


We're Not Forever

by khaleesiq



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Charmed AU, Demons, M/M, Smut, Witches, liam is phoebe, louis and harry are piper and leo, zayn is cole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-04-25 00:40:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4940056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaleesiq/pseuds/khaleesiq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Belthazor laughs, and the house seems to shake beneath their feet. “You think you can stop me, little witch? My powers are much too great for you.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>  <em>Little witch. Why does that sound so familiar? And why does Belthazor keep glancing back at Liam with those wide and beautiful brown eyes?</em></p><p> </p><p>  <em>“Just throw the potion then, Niall!” Louis yells. “We don’t have any time to waste!”</em></p><p> </p><p>  <em>Niall lifts his arm, but Liam notices Belthazor flinch. He turns to look at Liam one last time, and then Liam knows. He grabs Niall’s arm and wrenches the potion from his hand. Niall steps back, thinking Liam is going to vanquish the demon himself.</em></p><p> </p><p>  <em>But he doesn’t.</em></p><p> </p><p>(Or, a charmed au where Liam falls head over heels for a handsome lawyer without realizing that he's much more dangerous than he seems.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	We're Not Forever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Loor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loor/gifts).



> Thank you so much loor for the amazing prompts! It was so hard to choose, but I had to do charmed because there are no charmed au's for ziam, and I just love Phoebe and Cole so much. This fic is mostly based on season 3 because the seasons after that are super sad. Also, I had to change some things to make it fit the story and Liam/Zayn better so it's not completely accurate to the show. I hope you like it because I had so much fun writing it!!
> 
> Special thanks to my sisters Sofie and Becca for helping me out with all the charmed logic and encouraging me to write this fic. 
> 
> Title taken from the song "Timebomb" by Tove Lo.

Being a witch is not as much fun as most people think.

That was Liam’s first lesson when he had received his powers a couple of years ago. He had thought it’d be cool, casting spells and using them to get whatever he wanted. But that was not the case.

No. He is not allowed to use his powers for personal gain, and even if he tried, Louis and Niall would be right there to yell at him. He can only use his power to protect the innocent, which is not a bad thing. Liam likes the idea of saving people, had even wanted to be a fireman when he was growing up. But sometimes Liam just wishes that he could have just a little bit of fun with his powers.

But it’s not like he can have that much fun with his power anyway. If he was Niall or Louis, maybe he could, but there’s not much he can do with the power of premonition. Having premonitions isn’t even all that great anyway because he can’t control when he has one, and he gets a head rush every time he does.

Although, he has learned to love his power despite all of its drawbacks. He loves being able to stop something bad from happening because he’s foreseen it. He likes that when Niall or Louis have a problem, Liam is the guy with the information that they need. Not to mention, he’s also the best with spells, but that’s neither here nor there.

Because he doesn’t have an “active” power like Niall’s telekinesis or Louis’ freezing abilities, Liam has taken up boxing in order to help him defeat demons. He thinks that it gives him a kind of “leg up” since the demons are usually expecting witches to fight back with magic rather than more human skills like boxing.

So, being a witch has its downs, but it definitely has its ups as well, especially when he’s in it with his brothers. However, it’s kind of hard to remember what any of the pros are when he has to deal with a demon and they’re short one brother.

“This is so like him,” Niall complains as he paces, waving his hands about. Liam’s extremely glad he has his power under control by now otherwise things would be flying everywhere.

Liam sits on the couch, the _Book of Shadows_ resting on his knees. He’s supposed to be looking through it, trying to find some way to vanquish this demon that doesn’t require the “Power of Three” spell, but he’s not having much luck.

“Niall,” Liam says in a gentle voice, trying to calm him down, “you know Louis has a lot he has to deal with. Of course it’s going to take some time.”

Niall throws his hands up and a vase comes flying off the shelf, nearly crashing into Liam’s head. But Liam’s prepared, and he ducks and lets it shatter against the wall. Even though Niall has his powers mastered, sometimes when he gets too emotional he can lose that control.

“Sorry,” Niall apologizes. He sits down next to Liam on the couch and sighs. “It’s just—it’s been a _month_ , Liam. How can they possibly not have settled it by now?”

Liam shrugs, not looking up from the book. “You know how they are. They’re hell-bent on keeping the rules. And Louis’ pretty stubborn too. They’re probably not getting anywhere.”

Niall leans his head back against the couch with a huff of breath. “Have you found anything yet?”

Liam shakes his head. “Not yet.”

Niall groans and stands back up. “Well I’m going to take a shower. I can’t stand sitting here not doing anything while we wait for them to show up. Let me know if Louis and Harry show up while I’m gone.”

“Will do,” Liam replies, though he has a pretty good idea that they won’t.

The thing is, Louis and Harry’s relationship isn’t exactly…allowed. Louis is a witch and Harry is a whitelighter—a sort of guardian angel for witches—and there’s an old rule that states that intimate relations between witches and whitelighters are strictly forbidden.

Which is the reason why Louis and Harry have been gone for a month. Louis, being the stubborn and determined asshole that he is, demanded that Harry take him to meet his bosses (who the brothers all elusively call “them”) to try and get a rule change. Liam had assumed that once they saw how good Louis and Harry were together they’d change it, but one month later, and Louis and Harry are still stuck up there.

Liam shuts the book in frustration, pushing it off his lap. He just wishes everything wasn’t so complicated. He remembers when life was simple. When he was failing his university courses and got to go on dates without having to worry about a demon chasing after him or his brothers. He loves his powers, and he loves saving people, but sometimes he just wants to go on a date. Is that too much to fucking ask?

He gets up off the couch suddenly, grabs his coat, and heads out the front door, slamming it loudly enough so that Niall could hear that he’s gone. He just needs to take some time for himself, try to clear his mind and see if that helps him with this demon problem any better.

He goes to the park near the house, where he and his brothers would play for hours when they were younger. He likes to go here to think because it reminds him of simpler times and how much easier life used to be.

He sits down on a swing and lazily pumps his legs. He wonders about Louis and Harry, why their relationship had to be so damn complicated. They didn’t deserve that. Louis had been through enough boy drama, what with unknowingly dating a warlock for nearly a year. And Harry. Harry is such a good person, a literal angel. He doesn’t deserve to go through this either.

If anyone deserves relationship troubles like this, it’s Liam. He never puts his heart into any relationships; no one ever seems “right” for him. On the surface, Liam will see someone and think, “Yes. They’re just my type.” But then once he gets bored with them he bolts. And it doesn’t take long for Liam to get bored. It would be just his luck if his dating habits came back to bite him in the ass.

The sound of a car unlocking has him jumping and nearly falling off the swing. He looks around and spots a woman loading her car up and offers a little wave. He figures that by now he shouldn’t be so jumpy, that dealing with demons every day would have made him less sensitive to smaller things. But actually, he thinks that the fact that death could be around any corner has made it worse.

It’s strange, how much quieter the world feels before something bad happens. One moment, Liam is drawing patterns into the sand with his feet, and the next a woman is screaming bloody murder.

Liam takes off, sprinting to the woman at the car that he had seen earlier. He spots her struggling with what appears to be a normal human, he’s even fighting with what appears to be a regular knife. Liam falters, confused by the _normalcy_ of the situation, but then picks up speed when she screams, “Help!”

And then, in what feels like a blow straight to Liam’s chest, the screams stop. Which usually only means one thing.

When he reaches the woman, she’s lying motionless on the ground, a glassy look in her eyes and some kind of a rune carved into her forehead. And then, another body, something that looks almost like a spirit, comes out of the man’s body and starts sucking the life of the woman through the rune.

“Fuck,” Liam whispers, both in surprise and disappointment. He’s too late. It’s happened before, but he really should’ve been able to help her since he was so close. What’s wrong with him?

The man—or more accurately, the demon—must hear him because it looks up and straight at Liam. It screeches and crouches, poised to attack. But now Liam is prepared. He pulls his arm back and punches the demon in the face and smirks when it goes flying back across the street. While it’s not the most effective way of fighting a demon, it definitely comes in handy when you’ve got nothing else to do.

The demon jumps up and prepares to attack Liam again. But the sound of sirens wailing in the distance has the demon second-guessing itself. One look at the police car and then it vanishes into the air.

Liam breathes heavily, more out of adrenaline than exhaustion. As he waits for the officer to come up to him and ask him questions, he kneels down beside the woman. He whispers, “I’m so sorry.”

“Alright, what’s happened now?” the officer, Liam’s good friend Leigh-Anne Pinnock, asks. He’s relieved to see that it’s her here, since she knows all about witches and demons and Liam won’t have to try and come up with a lie as an explanation.

“I was sitting on the swings when a demon attacked this woman,” Liam explains, standing up. “It’ll all happened so fast I couldn’t get to her on time. I’m sorry, I wanted to—”

“Hey, hey,” Leigh-Anne says, “it’s alright. But we’re going to need to get our stories straight before my boss asks me about all this.”

Liam opens his mouth to speak, ready to come up with an outrageous story, when he’s interrupted by a voice from behind him.

“You’d better get your story straight quickly,” a low voice says. “Because I’m going to need you as a witness in court.”

Liam whirls around, ready to tell this person off because there is _no fucking way_ that he’s going to court, but his words die in his throat. Because this guy has got to be one of the most beautiful people that Liam has ever seen. Wait, no, probably _the_ most beautiful person he’s ever seen. But he’s not going to tell Louis that.

The man has thick black hair and sharp cheekbones that make Liam’s mouth water. Even in the darkness of the night, his eyes seem to sparkle and his lips are tilted up in a smirk. He exudes confidence and cockiness, but there’s a softness to his eyes that makes Liam think that he can trust this man.

Leigh-Anne is the first to speak, not as easily stricken by this man’s looks as Liam is. “What do you want, Zayn?”

The man—Zayn—grins. “I want the same thing as you do. Justice for what’s been done here.”

Leigh-Anne sighs. “Well first we have to figure out what _has_ been done here. You can’t get justice until you know who did it.”

Zayn shrugs, leaning against the car. “You have a suspect, do you not? All we have to do is have our lovely witness here…”

“Liam,” Liam offers, nearly choking on the word because of the way Zayn smiles at him.

“ _Leeyum_ ,” Zayn draws out, making Liam shiver. “We just need Liam to confirm it and then we’ve got a court case.”

Leigh-Anne rolls her eyes. “Pretty sure you need a little more evidence than that.”

Zayn smirks and gestures to the ground. Both Liam and Leigh-Anne look to where he’s pointing, and find a knife—actually called an _athame_ , Liam notes—lying next the woman’s body. How did Zayn catch that so quickly?

Leigh-Anne narrows her eyes at Zayn as she pulls on gloves and picks up the _athame_. As she puts it into a plastic bag, she remarks, “I’ll run this through for fingerprints. And if the fingerprints match the suspect, then I believe you have a case, Mr. Malik.”

Zayn claps his hands together. “Wonderful.”

“Case?” Liam questions no one in particular. Well, he meant to be addressing Leigh-Anne, but she’s too busy sweeping the area for any more evidence to listen to him, so Zayn ends up answering him.

Zayn holds out his hand. “Zayn Malik, Assistant District Attorney. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Liam.”

 _So polite,_ Liam can’t help but think as he reaches for Zayn’s hand. It’s so soft and gentle and—

Okay, that’s enough.

Zayn hands him a card. “If you need anything, just call me. I look forward to working with you, Liam.”

Liam nods, running his hands over Zayn’s name on the card. As Zayn starts to leave, Liam’s brain finally catches up and he says, “Zayn, wait.”

Zayn raises an eyebrow. “Yes Liam?”

Liam can’t help but notice that Zayn says his name a lot. But that’s not what he wants to talk about. “I—I don’t want to be a witness.”

Zayn frowns. “What? Why not? Don’t you want justice for what happened to this woman, Liam?”

Liam nods, looking back down at the card. “I do, but I…uh…” What the hell can he say? That he can’t be a witness because then he’ll have to lie under oath about what happened and he doesn’t want God to smite him? But maybe... Maybe he wasn’t meant to save this woman’s life. Maybe this is the way he’s supposed to help this innocent. By helping to get justice for her murder.

He hears Zayn sigh and he looks back up. “A lot of people get nervous about being a witness, especially to a murder. They’re afraid that the murderer is going to get them too for speaking against them, or what have you. Whatever your reasons for being nervous, Liam, I just want you to know that I’ll protect you.”

“You’ll protect me,” Liam repeats feebly.

Zayn nods. “I’ll make sure that nothing happens to you, inside or outside of the courtroom. You understand me? You’ve got nothing to be afraid of.”

Liam nods, feeling like he can trust this man completely. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

Zayn smiles, softer this time, unlike the shark-like grin he had for Leigh-Anne earlier. “Thank you, Liam. We’ll be in touch.”

Liam watches Zayn go, a dazed look on his face. He’s so lost in thought about the man that he doesn’t even notice when Leigh-Anne comes to stand beside him.

“None of the officers really trust him,” Leigh-Anne says. “He’s good at his job, a little _too_ good. He knows how to get what he wants, and he _always_ gets it. He might be a decent guy, but I just want you to be careful around him, okay Liam? There’s just something off about him.”

Liam nods, but he doesn’t get that. He doesn’t feel anything but trust and kindness coming from Zayn.

***

“I can’t believe you just stood there!”

“What was I supposed to do? They’re my bosses!”

“You could have defended my honor!”

Liam looks to Niall who’s calmly sitting on the couch, flipping through the _Book of Shadows_ while Louis and Harry shout at each other. Liam sighs, sitting on the couch next to Niall. He wonders when Louis and Harry are going to notice that he’s come home.

“How long have they been back?” Liam asks, watching as Louis shouts in Harry’s face.

Niall shrugs. “I got out of the shower and found them here yelling at each other. They didn’t even offer a hello.” He looks up from the book and eyes Liam curiously. “Where did you go?”

Liam bites his lip. He should tell Niall about what just happened down at the park, but he’s not sure now is the best time with Louis and Harry trying to kill each other in the middle of the living room. “I’ll tell you later,” Liam says.

Niall accepts that and goes back to the _Book of Shadows._

Liam’s not sure how long they sit there with Louis and Harry screaming each other’s faces off, but eventually Louis gets so annoyed that he stomps up the stairs and the sound of his bedroom door slamming shut is heard just seconds later.

Harry drags a hand over his face as he slumps down onto the couch. “That was a fun trip,” he chuckles weakly.

Liam pats him on the back sympathetically. “Mind telling us what happened?”

Harry shrugs. “Not much. Louis asked them to change the rules, let us date, and they said no. Louis tried to convince them, but they’re not going to change the rules. Not now, not ever. I guess that’s why he’s mad at me. Because I know that, and so I know there’s no use in trying.”

Liam smiles. That’s Louis for you. Even when a situation is fruitless, when there’s no way they’ll ever succeed, Louis keeps trying. And sometimes it even works. But they—Harry’s bosses—are older and more powerful than the world itself. And if this is the way it has always been, then this is the way it will always be.

“We’ll talk to Louis,” Niall says. “He loves you. He won’t stay mad at you forever. He’ll come to his senses.”

“Yeah?” Harry says. “Well love only goes so far, I guess.”

Liam frowns. He’s always been a firm believer in true love, despite his past dating experiences. Maybe that’s why he’s so prone to breaking it off with people, because he’s constantly looking for “the one” and no one ever seems to be it. But Louis and Harry? Liam knows that that’s what true love is. And if they can’t make it, then who can?

“Anyway,” Harry says, standing up, “I think I’ll leave you alone for tonight. I don’t think Louis will appreciate me hanging around here any longer tonight.”

Once Harry’s gone, Niall turns to Liam with raised eyebrows. “Okay, spill.”

Liam explains to Niall everything that happened down in the park. Well, maybe not everything. He doesn’t tell him about Zayn and having to go to court. He also conveniently leaves out the part where he was blushing like mad over Zayn and how he may or may not have been flirting with Liam.

“It sounds like possession,” Niall finally says. “Some poor guy was possessed by a demon and then sent to kill this woman.”

Liam shakes his head, grabbing for the _Book of Shadows_. He flips through it furiously, trying to find something that matches the demon he saw. “I mean, I think it was possession, but I don’t think this was an ordinary demon. He carved a rune on this woman’s forehead. It looked kind of like a triangle with—oh! Like that!”

He finds a page with a picture of a bald man with the triangular rune on his forehead. The top of the page labels the demon as something called a “Guardian”.

“’This symbol of darkness indicates the presence of a great evil,’” Liam reads out loud. “’An opening by which demons known as the Guardians steal an innocent soul. In exchange, the Guardian offers protection of the mortal evil during his time on earth.’ That sounds about right.”

“Okay,” Niall says. “Anything on how to vanquish him?”

Liam nods. “You have to stab the rune on the Guardian’s forehead. Sounds easy enough.”

“We just have to figure out when this guy is going to kill again,” Niall says, giving Liam a pointed look. “Any idea on how to do that?”

Liam rolls his eyes. Like he said, Liam is their intel guy. He never gets to anything fun. “I’ll get the _athame_ he used from Leigh-Anne and hopefully I’ll see something.”

“Great,” Niall says, shutting the book closed. “I’ll return this to the attic and then turn in for the night. Good night, Li.”

“Wait, Niall?” Liam says, biting his lip. “There’s something I may have forgotten to mention.”

“Yeah?” Niall answers.

“I’m a witness to a crime,” Liam says. “And I have to go to court to recount it.”

Liam watches as Niall processes this information, his bright smile turning into a frown. He shakes his head and sighs. “There always has to be some kind of complication, doesn’t there?”

***

Going back to school was a good idea. It gives him something to focus on other than demons and it will help him get a better job. Going to school is a good idea.

Liam repeats this to himself as he struggles to remain awake in his psychology class the next morning. He had stayed up all night, plagued with memories of the demon killing that woman. He doesn’t know why it’s affecting him so much. This wouldn’t be the first time that they’ve lost an innocent. Although, it wasn’t really _them_ , was it? It was just him. _He_ lost an innocent.

He’s still half-asleep and thinking of the demon as he trudges to Niall’s car after class. Maybe that’s why when he feels a tap on his shoulder he spins around, ready to kick the demon in the face.

Except it’s not a demon.

Zayn catches his leg in mid-air, laughing. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Liam chuckles weakly, silently berating himself for being so weird. “Uh, yeah,” he says. “Sorry, I was just thinking about last night. It was—overwhelming.”

Zayn nods, giving Liam a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. I hope you don’t have to ever again.”

 _Well too bad ‘cause it’s kind of my job,_ Liam thinks. “Yeah,” he says. He eyes where Zayn is gripping Liam’s leg. “Uh, can I have my leg back now?”

“Oh!” Zayn says, forgetting that he was holding it. He lets go and Liam stumbles. Zayn reaches for him, hands on his waist to steady him. “Sorry, I didn’t realize…”

“It’s okay,” Liam says, smiling at him. In the daylight Zayn’s eyes shine much brighter. They appear to be almost gold when the light hits them. “Has anyone ever told you that you apologize too much?”

Zayn grins. “Sorry, I—” He breaks off when he realizes what he just did and starts laughing.

Liam really likes Zayn’s laugh. He likes the way Zayn’s eyes squint and his nose crinkles. It’s strange how Liam thinks of Zayn as being adorable with his carefully styled hair and pristine suit. But he is. And Liam loves it.

“Anyway,” Zayn says, letting go of Liam. Liam immediately misses the warmth of Zayn’s hands on his waist. “I just wanted to see how you were holding up after last night.”

“I’m fine,” Liam lies. He doesn’t know Zayn well enough to pour his heart out to him. He hopes that he will one day though. When Zayn raises an eyebrow, Liam finds himself saying, “Well, not fine, but…I’m dealing with it.”

Zayn smiles, reaching out for Liam. But at the last second he drops his hand and casts his eyes away from Liam’s face. “I got a call from the police department. They said that the fingerprints on the weapon match the suspect. So it looks like we’ve got a case.”

Liam swallows the lump in his throat. “Great. So this means I’ll be a witness.”

Zayn looks almost sorry when he looks back at Liam. “Yeah, it does. I’ll call you later, let you know more about it. Have a good day, Liam.”

***

Louis huffs out a breath as he sits down next to Liam on the couch. Liam shifts slightly so that there’s a little more room between them, but otherwise ignores Louis in favor of his homework. Louis sighs a little louder, but Liam continues on his homework.

After a couple more failed attempts to get Liam’s attention through sighing, Louis says, “What’s more important. Your fucking homework or your brother?”

Liam looks up at him. “My homework.”

Louis groans. “ _Liam_.”

Liam sighs, shutting his book. There’s no way he’s going to get this down if he doesn’t give Louis the attention he so desires. “If this is about you and Harry, I don’t want to hear it. Figure it out yourselves. Or pester Niall about it.”

Louis pouts. “I talked to Niall already,” he says. “He said he was too busy with work. And I can’t talk to Harry because we just keep going in fucking circles and not getting anywhere. It’s exhausting.”

“You guys will work it out,” Liam says with conviction. “You’ve been through so much already. You can’t let this break you.”

Louis smiles sadly. “That’s the problem, Li. We’ve been through _too_ much. Maybe it’s a sign that we just aren’t meant to be together.”

Liam shakes his head. “No. You spent a _month_ trying to convince them that you and Harry can be together. You spent a month away from us and our duties to try and keep you and Harry together. That’s love, Louis. You can’t just give up on something that strong.”

Louis frowns. “A month? I was only up there for a day.”

Liam raises his eyebrows. “You really think—go check a newspaper. You were up there for a month.”

Louis gapes at him. “You’re joking.”

“I wish I was.”

The phone rings then, and Louis jumps up to get it. Liam shakes his head and smiles, knowing that Louis is just trying to distract himself from his mini existential crisis. How could Louis not have realized that he was gone for so long? Does time move differently up there?

“Liam!” Louis shouts from the other room. “It’s a gentlemanly caller!”

Liam practically sprints to the phone, knowing that it has to be Zayn. Louis gives him a curious look as Liam rips the phone out of his hand. “Hello?” Liam answers.

Zayn chuckles on the other end. “ _Hi Liam. It’s Zayn._ ”

“I know,” Liam says. Louis gags.

“ _You know?_ ” Zayn asks.

“I—I mean,” Liam says, realizing just how creepy that sounded, “you, uh, said you’d be calling me later today.”

“And lord knows Liam doesn’t ever get any calls from interested men around here,” Louis says loudly. Liam punches him in the arm.

“ _Right,_ ” Zayn says. “ _So the proceedings are going to be taking place in about a week. It shouldn’t take very long. We just need you to recount what you saw and then confirm that the suspect was, in fact, the man you saw killing that woman. And then answer any questions as honestly as possible. Okay?_ ”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Liam says. “I’ll see you then.”

“ _Actually,_ ” Zayn says. “ _There’s something else I wanted to ask you about._ ”

Liam’s heart leaps in his chest. “Um, yeah?”

“ _I was wondering if maybe we could go out for coffee sometime._ ” Zayn says, his voice shaking a little. “ _And you know, not talk about murder and court for once._ ”

“I would—” Liam starts, but then he wonders if he actually has time for a date. He really likes Zayn, but between school and vanquishing this demon, he doesn’t have a lot of time for dating. “Maybe after the case is over?” Liam decides on. He doesn’t want to completely give up his chances with Zayn. “It might seem a little strange if the district attorney was dating one of his witnesses.”

Zayn laughs. “Assistant _District Attorney, actually._ ”

Liam hums. “I’m sure you’ll get there some day.”

“ _Alright,_ ” Zayn says, and Liam thinks he can hear a smile in his voice. “ _The day after the case is over. We’ll go out for coffee. Sound good?_ ”

“It’s a date,” Liam agrees. “I’ll see you later.”

When Liam hangs up he notices Louis staring at him with pursed lips and a raised eyebrow. “What’s going on, Liam?”

Liam smiles. “He’s, uh, the Assistant District Attorney. Zayn Malik. Last night I was witness to a crime and so now he needs me to come in and be a witness.”

“Then why are you blushing and giggling?” Louis asks.

Liam rolls his eyes. “I was not _giggling_.”

“But you are blushing,” Louis points out.

“So, have you talked to Harry yet?” Liam asks, changing the subject.

Louis narrows his eyes at him. “Fuck you. I will not be talking to that fucking asshole until he at least _tries_ to talk some sense into his bosses. Or maybe comes up with a way to make our relationship work.”

“I think I have actually.”

Liam and Louis whirl around to find Harry standing in the foyer with a sheepish smile on his face. Liam hates it when Harry randomly orbs in and out of places with no warning. Louis finds it endearing. Probably because when Harry orbs in on Louis naked Louis doesn’t really care.

“Harry,” Louis says, glaring at him. “I presume you talked to your bosses and convinced them to think differently about our relationship, then?”

Harry bites his lip. “Um, no, actually. But I figured out a way for us to be together and there’s no way they can tear us apart.”

And then Harry takes a deep breath and drops to one knee. He pulls out a ring and says, “Louis, will you marry me?”

Liam gasps, eyes darting in between the two of them. It’s happening. After years of Louis and Harry loving each other despite not being able to be together, they were going to get married. Liam wishes he had a camera.

“No,” Louis says, and leaves the room.

***

Liam finds Louis lying on his stomach on his bed, trying to hide his sobs in his pillow. Liam curls up behind him, resting an arm over Louis’ waist. He knows that Louis hates when people see him cry, but at the same time, he knows that Louis wants to talk about it— _needs_ to talk about it so that he can at least try to get over it.

“I can’t believe he did that,” Louis sobs. “I can’t believe he asked me to marry him.”

Liam rubs Louis’ back. “He loves you, Lou. And he wants to be with you forever—”

Louis rolls around, glaring at Liam. Despite the tears on his cheeks and the red rimming his eyes, Louis’ look still terrifies Liam slightly. “No, Liam. That’s not why he asked me to marry him. He asked me because it was a loophole. It was a _solution_ to a problem. And that’s the worst. He thinks that our relationship is a _problem_.”

Liam gets where Louis is coming from, but he also knows where Harry is coming from. “That might be true, but think about this, Lou. If Harry really saw your relationship as a problem then why would he want to spend the rest of his—well I guess _your_ life since Harry’s technically dead—life with you? If he thought it was that much of a problem, don’t you think he would’ve just given up?”

Louis frowns. “I know you mean well, Liam, but the problem is you believe too much in true love. Sometimes, you think you love a person as much as you can, but it’s still not meant to be.”

“That’s not—” Liam tries, but Louis is not in an arguing mood.

“Just leave me alone, Liam,” Louis says. “Unless you can change the rules, you’re not much help.”

There’s no use trying to sway Louis right now. He’s hurting, and there really isn’t much Liam can do to change his mind. He still slams the door shut loudly when he leaves.

***

Leigh-Anne agrees to meet Niall and Liam and bring them the _athame_ a couple of days later. It had taken a lot of persuading though, and finally when Liam said that “it was for the greater good to protect the innocent” had Leigh-Anne finally agreed. She still isn’t very happy about it.

“If I lose my job because of this,” Leigh-Anne says when she arrives at the house, “then I’m bringing you down with me.”

“You’re not going to lose your job,” Liam says. “You’ll have the _athame_ back before they even realize that it’s missing.”

Leigh-Anne rolls her eyes as she retrieves the _athame_ from her bag. “Be very careful with it,” she warns as Liam reaches for it. “We may have already dusted for fingerprints but we still need it as evidence for the case.”

Liam nods and takes the _athame_ into his hands. As soon as he touches the cold steel of the knife, he’s plunged into a vision.

_A man screams as he’s pushed to the ground, nearly cracking his skull. The killer kneels over him, his arm pressed to the man’s neck as he carves the rune into his forehead. Once he’s done, the Guardian appears and begins to suck the dead man’s life away._

Liam gasps as he comes out of his vision. He hates how he feels like he can’t breathe the entire time, like someone is holding his head underwater. After two years of having this power he’d thought that he would have gotten used to it. But no, it still hurts every single time he has a vision.

“What did you see?” Niall asks, concern etched onto his face. Even though Liam has assured him that he feels fine after his visions, Niall still worries about his well-being. Liam’s not surprised. As the oldest, Niall has had to take care of Louis and Liam ever since their mother died. Even though they’re all adults now, Niall still takes on the motherly role.

“He’s going to attack again,” Liam says. He turns to Leigh-Anne. “Shouldn’t he be in custody?”

“He is,” Leigh-Anne answers, her brows furrowed. “But if you saw him killing someone then he must have broken out somehow. We should go.”

They grab their coats and rush out the door. Liam directs Leigh-Anne to where he thinks the murder is going to take place based on what he saw in his vision. It’s in a back alley near the office where Niall works because demons are somehow always drawn to any aspect of their lives. It annoys Liam to no end.

The demon is already there by the time they arrive, so Liam and Niall have no time to waste. Niall grabs the stake they had taken with them and he and Liam run up to the demon. The Guardian is already out, ready to absorb the innocent’s life.

Liam kicks the Guardian, disconnecting him from the mortal criminal and sending him flying into a chain link fence. Liam nods to Niall and Niall uses his power to throw the stake straight into the rune on the Guardian’s forehead. The Guardian shakes violently before combusting into flames. Liam and Niall grin at each other.

“That was amazing,” Leigh-Anne breathes. Liam had almost forgotten that she was there.

Niall shrugs. “We’re used to it.”

Liam laughs and pulls him into a hug. No matter how many times they vanquish a demon, and no matter how easy it is, Liam still gets nervous. Every time, he wonders if this will be the demon that finally kills him or his brothers. Liam doesn’t know what he would do if one of his brothers ever died.

The sound of a car pulling up has Liam releasing Niall. Leigh-Anne hisses and pushes them behind a dumpster. “That’s Zayn Malik’s car,” she whispers. “If he sees you here, Liam, he’s going to get suspicious and wonder what you’re doing at all these crime scenes.”

Liam obediently ducks behind the dumpster, though he’s not happy about it. He wants to see Zayn again, talk to him again, even though he did so just yesterday. But Leigh-Anne has a point. What the hell would Zayn think of Liam’s presence at almost the same exact crime scene?

“Officer Pinnock,” Liam hears Zayn say. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question,” Leigh-Anne counters. When Zayn fails to respond, Leigh-Anne explains, “We had gotten word of this man’s escape and tracked him here. He was about to kill again, but I stopped him.”

“Good work,” Zayn says, and Liam thinks he sounds a little sarcastic. “Just try to keep a closer eye on him next time so we don’t run into this situation again.”

“That’s the guy you have a crush on?” Niall whispers. “He sounds like a real dick.”

Liam gapes at him. “How the hell did you find out about that?”

“Louis told me,” Niall answers.

Liam doesn’t bother asking him how Louis found the time to talk about Liam’s crush between locking himself up in his room and crying over Harry.

“Now may I ask what you’re doing here?” Leigh-Anne asks.

“Nothing you need to know about,” Zayn says. “Keep up the good work, officer.”

A couple moments later they hear the sound of a car starting up and Leigh-Anne pulls them out of their hiding spot. She has an annoyed look on her face as she watches Zayn drive off.

“I don’t trust that guy,” she mutters. “What the hell was he doing here? And what the hell was he doing at the scene the other night, that’s not his job.”

“He sounds like an asshole,” Niall agrees. “Sorry Liam.”

Liam doesn’t say anything. He understands what Leigh-Anne is saying, that it’s a little weird how he just showed up at the crime scenes with no explanation. But he’s never been anything but nice to Liam. And the little voice in the back of Liam’s head is telling him to trust Zayn, and that voice has never been wrong.

They help Leigh-Anne put the unconscious bodies of the two men (who are, thankfully, still alive) into Leigh-Anne’s car. As Leigh-Anne drives them back home she complains the whole time about how upset her wife will be with her for staying at work late again. Liam can’t help but smile at the simplicity of Leigh-Anne’s life. If only Liam’s biggest problem was that his partner would be upset with him for being home late.

When they get home, they find Louis and Harry cuddling on the couch, giggling into each other’s necks. Liam stops in his tracks abruptly, and Niall crashes right into him.

“What the hell, Liam?” he says.

Liam just points to Louis and Harry and Niall gapes. “That’s ‘what the hell.’ When did they make up? When we left Louis was still locked up in his room and Harry was AWOL.”

Niall shakes his head. “This is so fucking weird.”

Louis looks up and grins at the two of them, waving them over. Liam notices something glinting and—holy shit.

“You said yes?” Liam cries.

Louis nods enthusiastically. “I realized that I love Harry so much that it doesn’t matter the complications. I want him to be by my side forever. No matter what.”

“No matter what,” Harry repeats, kissing Louis’ hand.

Liam is still in shock. “But—how? When? You didn’t seem like you were changing your mind any time soon when we left!”

Louis shrugs. “It’s the magic of love, Liam. Which I thought you knew all about.”

Liam sits down on a chair across from the couch. “Apparently I know nothing.”

Louis snickers as Niall says, “I’m glad you’re finally admitting it since, you know, the guy you like so much is a complete dickwad.”

Liam’s jaw drops and Louis says, “What? You met him before me?”

“Niall, how can you say that?” Liam says. “You barely even know him!”

“Neither do you,” Niall counters. “But I do know Leigh-Anne. And I trust her. If she says that someone is sketchy and untrustworthy, then I’m sorry, Liam, but I’m inclined to believe her. And you have to admit, it was a little shady of him not to tell her what he was doing there.”

“You haven’t even talked to him,” Liam argues. “I’m sure there’s a very good reason for why he was there, he just wasn’t allowed to talk about it.”

“Liam,” Niall sighs, “I don’t know why you’re defending him like this. Why do you trust him so much?”

“Because I—” Liam falters, unable to come up with a decent explanation for his feelings.

“I know why,” Louis interrupts. “Because you want in his pants that’s why.”

“Fuck off,” Liam mumbles. “I’m going to bed.”

“I’m sorry,” Niall says sympathetically. “We’re just looking after you, that’s all.”

Liam ignores him and heads up to his room, locking the door behind him when he reaches it. He just wishes that they could see what Liam sees when he looks at Zayn, then maybe they would understand why Liam trusts him. Because Liam can’t explain it.

Niall’s right, Liam barely knows Zayn, has only spoken to him twice. There’s no reason for why Liam should be defending him like that and disbelieving what Leigh-Anne says about not trusting him. Maybe Louis’ right. Maybe he only trusts Zayn because he likes him so much.

He has to see Zayn again, he decides. Before the hearing. Liam has to get to know him a little better, try to understand what the feeling in the pit of his stomach means when he thinks about Zayn. Then maybe he can make Niall and Louis understand.

He’s reaching for his phone so that he can call Zayn, ask him if they can meet up for lunch tomorrow, when a banging on his door stops him. Louis’ voice calls, “Liam, I know you’re angry with us, but you have to open up.”

“Go away, Louis!” Liam shouts back. There’s nothing Louis can say that will make him less angry about what just transpired. They don’t want to listen to Liam? Fine. Liam won’t listen to them either.

“Liam, you don’t understand,” Louis says, and he sounds almost desperate. “It’s an emergency.”

“Is someone dying?” Liam asks.

“No, but—” Louis tries but Liam cuts him off.

“Then I don’t care!” he says. He wonders how long he can ignore Louis until he goes away. He just wants to call Zayn, and hear his voice again. Is that too much to ask?

“The _Book of Shadows_ is missing,” Louis finally says and Liam’s heart stops.

***

It shouldn’t be possible. The _Book of Shadows_ has a protective spell on it so that no demon can steal it. It’s always protected it before, why isn’t it working now?

“A mortal could have stolen it,” Niall offers as Liam paces the living room. “There’s no protection spell against them. Only evil.”

“What would a mortal want with the book?” Louis asks. He’s sitting on Harry’s lap on the couch, Harry frowning as he cards through Louis’ hair.

“If a demon was possessing or influencing them they might do it,” Liam says. There have been so many attempts among various demons to steal the book, and if one of them wanted it badly enough, then using a mortal would make the most sense to obtain it.

Harry shakes his head. “It still doesn’t make sense. Remember a couple of years ago, something tried to steal the book but it refused to leave the house. Why didn’t it do that?”

Liam sits down. There’s just too much happening right now, what with the court case and Zayn and now this. And what would happen if another demon came along to wreak havoc on them. They would be powerless unless they made up their own spell. Which none of them are very good at yet.

“Maybe we could try scrying for it?” Louis suggests.

“That seems like our best option,” Niall agrees. “I’ll go get the crystal.”

Louis offers to get the map while Liam and Harry wait for them. Liam taps his foot nervously, and notices Harry twisting his hands around. The awkwardness of their conversation from before hangs over their heads, and Liam thinks that the sooner they find the _Book of Shadows_ the better.

Niall and Louis come back with the crystal and the map. Louis and Harry spread out the map as Niall hands the crystal to Liam. Maybe it has something to do with his power, but Liam is the best at scrying, so they usually make him do it.

Liam holds the crystal above the map, waiting for it to twitch. He moves it slowly over the map, his fist clenching when nothing happens still. Once he’s hovered the crystal over every area on the map with no result, he throws it down in frustration.

“Unless it’s in another country,” Liam groans, “it looks like it doesn’t want to be found.”

“I don’t think it’s in another country,” Harry says in a low voice. Liam almost doesn’t hear him. “But I don’t think it’s here either.”

“Well would you please enlighten us because the rest of us are pretty much in the dark,” Liam grinds out.

“Liam,” Louis hisses. “Just because we’re being mean to your boyfriend doesn’t give you the right to do the same to mine.”

“I’ll do whatever the hell I want, Louis,” Liam counters. “Contrary to popular belief, I _am_ an adult and I can make my own fucking decisions.”

“Boys!” Niall shouts. Liam and Louis continue glaring at each other until Niall claps his hands in front of their faces, effectively tearing their eyes away from each other. “Can you work out your issues later? We kind of have a more important issue at hand, yeah?”

Louis sighs. “I will do that because I am mature enough to know what’s right and wrong.”

“Oh fuck you,” Liam says. Niall narrows his eyes at him. “Sorry,” he mutters.

“Harry,” Niall says, turning away from the feuding brothers, “what were you saying?”

“Right,” Harry says, casting a worried glance towards Louis and Liam. Liam knows that Harry is supposed to be impartial since he’s a whitelighter to _all_ of them, but he knows that he’s taking Louis and Niall’s side. Which doesn’t surprise Liam, but it still annoys him. “So like, if you guys were searching for me and I was—” He looks upward. “—‘up there’ then you wouldn’t be able to find me.”

“So are you saying that whoever has the book is up there?” Louis asks.

Harry shakes his head. “I don’t know what anyone up there would need the book for. No. I think that the book is…” He trails off, and looks down to the ground.

Niall gasps. “You think a demon took it down there?”

Harry nods. “It makes sense, if we can’t find it by scrying.”

“But if the book protects itself against evil,” Liam wonders, “why would it allow itself to be taken into Hell?”

“Technically it’s not really Hell,” Harry comments quietly. “It’s just, like, the underworld.”

“I don’t know,” Niall says, ignoring Harry. “I think we’re dealing with a very powerful demon, Liam. We need to stay on alert until the book is safely back in our hands.”

“You mean we’re not going to try and look for it now?” Liam says. “The longer it’s in some demon’s hands the more powerless we are. We can’t just take a break and group up tomorrow.”

“It’s late, Liam,” Niall sighs. “And we don’t even know how we’re supposed to get down there.”

Harry opens his mouth to say something, then snaps it shut quickly. Liam doesn’t think anyone noticed, but he did. Harry knows something. And Liam is going to find out.

“We’ll figure out a better plan once we’re all rested,” Louis agrees. “Good night.”

Liam waits for Niall and Louis to head upstairs before grabbing Harry’s arm and hissing, “You know how to get down there, don’t you.”

Harry bites his lip, probably contemplating calling for Niall and Louis, telling them that Liam is planning on going down there and getting the book back himself. Liam narrows his eyes and says, “Don’t you dare.”

Harry sighs, knowing that he’s not going to win this one. “The easiest way to reach it is if I orbed down there. But I’m not going to do it, Liam—”

“Fine, then I guess I’ll just figure out how to go down there myself,” Liam says.

Harry shakes his head, his eyes wide and frightened. “You can’t. Liam, that place is _crawling_ with demons. You could get yourself killed.”

“Then you should probably come with me,” Liam reasons.

“Why do you want to get it back so badly?” Harry asks. “Even Louis and Niall agree that it would be best to wait until morning. Why are you so eager to get it back?”

Liam’s not exactly sure why he’s so determined to get the book back as soon as possible. Though, he can probably guess. Throughout the night, and the years they spent growing up together, Liam has always been the “immature” one, the one that’s always screwing up and getting himself in trouble. And tonight it really hit him with how much his brothers still think that, even after all these years. He just wants to prove that he is just as mature and wise as his brothers. Is that too much to fucking ask?

But he can’t really say all that to Harry. Harry will just say something like, “Oh, I’m sure they don’t really think that,” or “I don’t think that this is the best way to show them that you’re mature.”

“It’s our family heritage,” Liam finally responds, and Harry’s face softens. “It’s important. It’s not just about the book, it’s like—it’s like stealing our power, Harry. Can you understand that?”

Harry nods. “I know, Liam. But—what’s more important? The book or your life?”

“The book holds—” Liam tries to say, but Harry cuts him off. And Harry never cuts anyone off.

“I know that you might think the book is more important, Liam,” Harry says, “but I don’t think your brothers would say the same thing. If you went down there to retrieve the book and ended up dying, Louis and Niall would never forgive themselves. Don’t think about what this would do to you. Think about what it would do to them.”

Liam sighs. “You’re right, Harry. It would kill them.”

Harry smiles, patting Liam on the back. “Good, now get some sleep. You’ll need as much as it as you can get.”

Liam heads up the stairs and into his room. But he doesn’t start getting ready for bed, no. He presses his ear to the door and waits until he hears Harry shut the door to Louis’ room. He waits a couple more minutes, just to make sure that the coast is clear. He gathers some smaller weapons into a backpack and then leaves his room.

He knows that Louis and Niall, and even Harry, would be upset if he left and never came back. He understands the risks involved in this. But who knows what that demon might do with their book while they’re here wasting time sleeping?

***

Without the _Book of Shadows_ , Liam has to figure out how to get to the Underworld by himself. He decides he’ll make up a spell to transport him there, but he’ll do it far enough away from the house in case any demons try to escape. He doesn’t want to put any of his brothers in danger.

He goes back to the park where the Guardian had first attacked. He figures that because of the recent demonic activity in the area it will make his spell even more powerful.

It’s chilly, much colder than it had been earlier that evening. Liam shivers, wondering just how bad this idea is. If he’s putting himself in more danger than if he had just waited until morning to find the book. Is proving a point to his brothers really worth risking his life?

Harry’s right, Liam thinks. Even if he did manage to save the book Louis and Niall would just spend two hours yelling at him, telling him how fucking stupid he is for going to the Underworld alone.

“Hello little witch.”

Liam freezes upon hearing a deep voice growl those words from somewhere behind him. He doesn’t turn, waits for whoever (or _whatever_ ) it is to come to him. It gives him an advantage, having someone come to him rather than running up to them and attacking.

He hears gravel crunching as the demon stalks slowly up behind Liam. Liam closes his eyes, listening carefully for when the demon is close enough for Liam to turn around and attack.

Then the footsteps stop.

“What’s wrong, little witch?” the thing snarls. “Are you scared?”

“I’m not scared,” Liam says, though his voice is shaking a bit. He’s just so fucking stupid, coming out here all alone and not having a weapon at the ready and keeping everything stuffed into his backpack. But he can’t let the demon know how utterly unprepared he is for this fight. Then the demon would take full advantage of him.

“Then turn around,” the demon says. “Let me see your face.”

Liam shivers again, but at this point he hardly even notices the cold. He has no doubt in his mind that showing the demon his face will be the end of him. He has to think fast if he’s going to make it out of this alive.

“Let me see yours first,” Liam says, biting his lip, hoping this works.

The demon laughs, harsh and bitter. “You’ll have to turn around to do that, little witch.”

“Stop calling me that,” Liam mutters under his breath. He can’t get annoyed now, though. He has to stay cool. “Come closer,” he says louder so that the demon can hear him. “So that I can see your face in the reflection of that car.”

He hears footsteps behind him again, and he breathes out a small sigh of relief. But it’s not over yet.

When Liam finally sees the demon in the reflection he has to bite back his gasp of shock. Because the demon has no face. The rest of its body looks completely human, but then there’s a swirling black mass on his head where his face should be. And that’s all Liam needs to see to know that he really should not show this demon his face.

“Can you see me now?” the demon says, and Liam’s sure that if it had a face it’d be grinning.

“Just a little closer,” Liam says. “I can almost see it.” _Just a little closer,_ Liam thinks, _and I can kick your ass._

The demon slows his footsteps, but he continues walking toward Liam. Liam’s sure that he’s starting to suspect something as he starts to slow even further and finally stops.

“That should be enough, little witch,” it says. “Now, let me see your face.”

“If you say so,” Liam says, and spins around. He keeps his head down as he knees the demon in the stomach, knocking it to the ground. He wracks his brain for something that will sound halfway decent for a spell when—

His back hits the car, and he hears a sickening crack that he thinks is the glass of the window, but fears is his back. He drops to his knees on the ground and coughs uncontrollably, trying to get back his breath.

The demon is in front of him in less than a second. It grabs hold of Liam’s hair and pulls his head back, forcing him to look up into its face (or lack thereof).

Liam whimpers, his head and back aching terribly. He feels so weak, and this isn’t even one of his worst fights. But at least Niall and Louis are usually with him. Now, he’s all alone. And the worst part is, he only has himself to blame.

“Now,” the demon hisses, “let me see that beautiful face of yours, little witch.”

And then Liam feels the most horrible pain of all. His head feels as if it’s being pulled apart slowly, stretching out endlessly. He screams in agony as an ache builds up at the front of his forehead until he starts to see black spots. He sincerely hopes that Niall and Louis won’t hate him for this.

“Liam?”

Liam’s not sure if it’s his imagination acting up since he’s so near death or if that’s actually Zayn’s voice he’s hearing. But there must be _someone_ there since the pulling stops and the demon turns away from Liam.

Liam passes out before he even hits the ground.

***

When Liam wakes up his head is pounding and there’s a searing pain down the middle of his back. He groans, trying to sit up, but there’s a voice telling him not to move.

That’s when Liam opens his eyes and takes in his surroundings. He’s in an unfamiliar room with gray walls and minimalist furniture. It’s unusually clean as well, nothing out of place. It’s the complete opposite of Liam’s home.

And then there’s Zayn. He’s kneeling down beside Liam, a concerned look on his face. He has a hand hovering over Liam’s face, as if afraid to touch him.

“Zayn?” Liam asks, his voice raspy. “What’s going on?”

“You were knocked out,” Zayn answers. “I didn’t know where you lived, so I took you back to my place.”

That’s when everything comes rushing back to Liam. The demon with no face. Being knocked around and thrown against a car. Seeing Zayn arrive just before passing out. But if he and Zayn were both safe and sound at Zayn’s place, then that means Zayn must have taken care of the demon. How the hell did he manage to do that?

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Zayn asks.

How much does Zayn know? Does he know that was a demon or did he just think he was seeing things since it was so dark? Liam has to be very careful with what he says, just in case Zayn doesn’t know anything. He also needs to be clever in drawing Zayn out, to see how much he really knows.

“I just remember seeing you arrive,” Liam answers, which is actually the truth. “And then I passed out. What happened after that?”

Zayn bites his lip. “The guy ran off, I didn’t see where. I guess I’m just so tough looking that I scared him off.”

Liam laughs, and Zayn’s eyes light up. “How come you didn’t call the police?” Liam asks, but what he really wants to know is what the hell Zayn was doing out so late. “Or bring me to a hospital?”

Zayn looks down. “I’ve figured that you wouldn’t want to deal with the cops again after what happened the other night. And if I took you to the hospital they would’ve asked about what happened, and I didn’t know if you wanted to talk about it. I’ll call the police later, though, and tell them what happened, but I thought you might want a rest.”

Liam’s heart flutters as he stares at Zayn in disbelief. Liam doesn’t know the last time he was with a guy that put Liam’s needs for his own. Zayn cannot be real. “That’s—thank you, Zayn.”

Zayn shrugs, but he’s grinning, pleased that he’s gotten Liam’s approval. “I can take you to the hospital now, if you want. I don’t know how bad your injuries are—”

“They’re okay,” Liam says quickly. He really doesn’t want to go to a hospital and have to try and explain everything to them. Plus, they would have to call Niall and Louis, let them know that Liam was hurt, and Liam really doesn’t feel like getting yelled at in the middle of the hospital. “I mean, it hurts like hell, but I can manage.”

Zayn’s lips turn downward. “Do you want some painkillers? Would that help?”

“Yes please,” Liam answers.

Zayn warns Liam not to move as he jumps up and heads down the hallway. Liam smiles to himself, glad that he has Zayn in his life. If Zayn hadn’t been there then Liam might not be alive right now. And Niall and Louis would have killed him if that happened.

Oh god. Niall and Louis are going to have his head when they find out about this. And Liam has no doubt that they will find out about this. Because Liam’s going to have to be healed by Harry, who will most definitely tell Louis, and then Louis will tell Niall. Liam is so fucked.

He wonders if Zayn would let him stay at his place forever.

“Alright,” Zayn says when he returns, a glass of water in one hand and a bottle of pills in the other. “Here you go. But drink slowly, I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Again.”

Liam smiles as Zayn sets the water and pills down on the coffee table in front of them. Liam starts to sit up and Zayn hurriedly reaches over and helps prop Liam up slowly. Liam bites back a grin, blushing furiously as Zayn rubs his back.

Once Liam has swallowed the pills Zayn helps him lie back down, whispering “careful” when Liam hits his head on the arm of the couch. Zayn stays kneeling by Liam’s side, his fingers carding through Liam’s hair as he stares down at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

“Thank you,” Liam says softly, not wanting to ruin the peaceful atmosphere they’ve created. “I don’t know what would’ve happened to me if you hadn’t been there. I could’ve—”

“Don’t,” Zayn says, a pained look on his face. “Don’t say that. And you’re welcome. I’m just glad I got there when I did.”

Suddenly Zayn’s hands still, and Liam frowns, missing the gentle brush of Zayn’s fingers against his head. Zayn looks deep in thought, a crease between his brows as if fighting something.

“Zayn?” Liam asks, reaching a hand out to smooth out the wrinkles on his forehead. Though, he ends up just brushing his thumb along Zayn’s forehead. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Zayn says quietly. “Just wondering… What were you doing out there, Liam?”

Liam swallows thickly. Liam should have figured that Zayn was wondering about Liam’s presence there just as much as Liam was wondering about Zayn. “Um… I was taking a walk,” he answers, wincing at what a terrible answer that is.

“Taking a walk?” Zayn repeats incredulously. “What on earth were you doing taking a walk at two in the morning?”

“I, uh…” Liam trails off, trying to think of what could possibly possess a person to go on a walk at two in the morning. “I had a fight with my brothers.” Which is true, and part of the reason why he had left. If he hadn’t fought with his brothers then he wouldn’t have felt the need to leave the house and prove himself to them. “I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to leave.”

Zayn’s face softens, and he continues brushing his fingers through Liam’s hair. “I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”

Liam shakes his head, smiling. He grabs Zayn’s other hand, the one not in his hair, and squeezes it. Lacing their fingers together he says, “You’ve already done more than enough, Zayn. Thank you.”

Zayn beams and presses a kiss to Liam’s forehead. Liam’s skin tingles from the touch. “Try to get some sleep,” Zayn whispers. “If you need anything I’ll be down the hall. Good night, Liam.”

Liam nods, but wishes that Zayn would stay by his side the entire night, curled around him and protecting him from demons.

***

The sun is high in the sky when Liam wakes up for the second time in Zayn’s apartment. He shields his eyes from the light, turning his face into the pillow. He hears a rough laugh from the other side of the room.

“I think that’s the sun’s way of telling you it’s time to wake up,” Zayn says.

Liam turns his face towards him, and finds him sitting in an armchair reading a newspaper. ( _Who the hell reads newspapers anymore?_ Liam can’t help but think.) He whines, “I think the sun hates me.”

Zayn laughs again, dropping the newspaper and standing up. He kneels by Liam’s side again and asks, “How are you feeling?”

While Liam hardly even noticed the pain anymore, he could tell that it was still there. There’s nothing more magical than the magic of painkillers, Liam thinks. “I’m feeling better,” Liam says honestly. His stomach rumbles and he laughs. “Although, I am a little hungry.”

Zayn holds out a hand. Liam grabs it and lets Zayn pull him up into a sitting position. “There’s this diner on the corner. We can go grab breakfast if you want?”

“Is it still morning?” Liam asks.

Zayn shakes his head, chuckling. “No, it’s the afternoon. But breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and you can’t skip it.”

Liam rolls his eyes as he stands up. Zayn frowns as he studies Liam closely, and then suddenly he’s disappearing down the hallway. Liam raises an eyebrow, looking around the room as if the walls will give him some kind of an explanation as to what just happened.

Zayn reappears, a bundle of clothing in his hands. He looks slightly sheepish as he explains, “You’ve got rips and blood on your clothes. I didn’t think you’d want to go out in public looking like that.” He holds the bundle out to Liam. “You can borrow these if you want.”

Liam thanks him and Zayn directs him to the bathroom. Liam closes the door behind him, but doesn’t start getting dressed right away. He pulls his phone out of his pocket, blanching when he sees about a thousand texts from Niall, Louis, and even Harry (who only has a phone because Niall and Liam got tired of him orbing in unexpectedly and demanded they have some kind of warning).

All the texts basically say the same thing, “Where the hell are you Liam?” “If you don’t answer this I will decapitate your ass.” “Liam please come back we’re worried sick.” Liam bites his lip as he considers replying to them. He should let them know he’s fine, but he doesn’t want to go back home just yet. He wants to stay living in this little paradise with Zayn where there are no demons or brothers for just a little while longer.

He turns his phone off and starts undressing. He pulls on the pants, which are sweatpants that seem to fit him pretty well. Based on Zayn’s build he figures that the pants are big on Zayn.

He’s just pulled off his shirt when the doorknob turns and Zayn comes in. Liam blushes, but doesn’t make any move to tell Zayn to leave or pull a shirt on. He kind of likes the way Zayn visibly eyes his chest, his mouth slightly agape.

“Sorry,” Zayn says quietly. “I just needed to grab—” He gestures toward the mirror above the sink.

“Oh,” Liam says, moving out of the way. “Yeah. Go ahead.”

The bathroom is small, so even though Liam’s moved out of the way, Zayn still has to press up against him as he reaches into the cabinet behind the mirror. Liam thinks he hears Zayn’s breath hitch as his chest brushes Liam’s bare one. Liam bites his lip, but still makes no move to put on a shirt.

Once Zayn’s grabbed what he needed he stands back, hovering in the doorway. Liam watches him, waiting for him to make some kind of a move.

The move Zayn makes isn’t one Liam’s expecting. He leans forward, and, pressing his hands to Liam’s cheeks, kisses him. Liam gasps, and Zayn swallows it down, eagerly opening his mouth against Liam’s. Liam kisses back just as enthusiastically, opening his own mouth and letting Zayn slip his tongue inside.

Liam grips Zayn’s hips, moaning as Zayn traces his tongue along Liam’s teeth. Liam’s back hits the sink when Zayn pushes him up against it, his hands going to the back of Liam’s neck. Liam whimpers, slightly in pleasure, but mostly in pain because his back still hurts. He hopes Zayn doesn’t notice though because he wants to keep doing this, and distracts Zayn by sliding his hands up underneath his shirt.

But Zayn notices, and he pulls his lips away from Liam’s. He keeps his face close to Liam’s, though, and they stand there panting into each other’s mouths for a while, winded from the heat of the moment.

“I’m sorry,” Zayn murmurs, reaching his hand up and tracing his thumb along Liam’s lower lip. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You didn’t,” Liam assures him. When Zayn frowns Liam presses a quick kiss to his lips to let him know that he really is okay. “It’s just that my back still kind of hurts from last night.”

Zayn nods and releases him. Liam sighs at the loss of contact, but he understands why Zayn did it. They can’t really spend all day kissing in the bathroom. And Liam’s sure that if they didn’t stop now they never would.

Zayn grabs the shirt he’s letting Liam borrow and places it in Liam’s hands. “Finish getting dressed and we can go to breakfast,” he says. “The faster we eat, the faster we can come back here and finish…this.”

Then he leaves Liam alone in the bathroom, blushing furiously.

***

Zayn won’t stop staring. Liam tries to talk about something, but then he fumbles his words, distracted by the way Zayn is just _looking_ at him, like he’s the most fascinating creature on earth. And when Liam messes up on his words, Zayn’s lips will quirk up into a little smile, and then Liam forgets how to breathe altogether.

He doesn’t remember the last time anyone made him feel like this. In fact, he’s not sure anyone _has_ ever made him feel like this. Like forgetting how to talk, forgetting how to _breathe_ , and just getting lost in their eyes. Because it feels like their eyes are the universe and they exist just for him.

He’s only known Zayn for a few days, so he can’t be in love with him yet. But Liam thinks that he could be. If he was given the chance to fall.

Zayn pays for their breakfast despite Liam’s protests. He says that it’s to make up for Liam almost dying last night (even though he had nothing to do with it), but the way he winks tells Liam that he just really wanted to take him out. Liam doesn’t mind, so long as he gets to pay next time.

“So,” Zayn says, taking Liam’s hand as they walk out of the diner, “back to my place to finish what we started earlier?”

Liam wants to say yes, he really does, but his cell phone has been burning a hole in his pocket the entire time they were eating. And Liam knows that he can’t hold off on his responsibilities forever, much as he’d like to.

“I can’t,” Liam says, trying to convey to Zayn how sorry he is. “I have to get back to my brothers. They’re probably wondering where I am.”

Zayn’s face falls. “Oh. Well I can give you a ride if you’d like?”

“I can take the bus,” Liam insists. “You’ve already done so much for me, Zayn. I don’t want to put you out more than I already have.”

“ _Leeyum_ ,” Zayn says in exasperation. He turns so that they’re facing one another and he grabs Liam’s other hand. Earnestly, he says, “I _want_ to give you a ride. You’re not putting me out, believe me. Besides,” he takes a step forward so that his chest is pressed up against Liam’s, “if it means we get to spend a little more time together, then I really don’t mind.”

Liam’s cheeks heat up as Zayn leans forward and kisses him. Liam’s never been one for PDA but he can’t help pressing his hands to Zayn’s cheeks as he holds him close. Zayn wraps his arms around Liam’s waist, smiling against his mouth before kissing him deeper.

“We should,” Liam tries to say as Zayn licks along his lower lip but he cuts off into a groan. Zayn laughs and Liam’s lips tingle from the action.

Zayn pulls away from Liam reluctantly. “We should probably get going, yeah?” he says, his eyes still on Liam’s lips. “Before your brothers start to worry.”

Liam nods and lets Zayn lead him back to his apartment. Liam waits in the car while Zayn runs upstairs to grab his briefcase, claiming that he’s going to head to the office after dropping Liam off.

When they arrive at Liam’s house, Liam continues to sit in Zayn’s car, working up the courage to face his brothers. Zayn just holds his hand, rubbing his knuckles soothingly to try and calm him down.

“I can go with you if you want,” Zayn offers, pressing a kiss to the top of Liam’s hand.

Liam smiles at him. “I don’t know if that would help.”

Zayn raises an eyebrow. “Why not?”

Liam opens his mouth and then quickly snaps it shut. He can’t exactly tell Zayn that his brothers hate him, now can he? Zayn would ask why, and then Liam would have to tell him that they don’t trust him because he keeps showing up at all these crime scenes. And then Zayn would question how Liam and his brothers know this and…

It’s just a mess.

“I don’t think they’ll appreciate me disappearing and then showing up with some guy on their doorstep,” Liam finally answers. That sounds reasonable enough.

Zayn chuckles. “I’ll have you know that I’m very good in the art of persuasion. I might be able to help get them off your back.”

“I doubt it,” Liam replies. “But fine, you can try if you want.” Mostly, Liam just really doesn’t want to leave Zayn’s side yet.

Zayn gives Liam a quick kiss for good luck before they exit the car together. Liam forgoes holding Zayn’s hand, not wanting any questions raised about the two of them. He’ll do that later. If Niall and Louis don’t kill him first.

Liam opens the door quietly, trying not to alert anyone to his presence. But his brothers and Harry have super hearing apparently because the second Liam shuts the door behind himself they’re on him like lions to their prey.

“Where the fuck have you been, Liam?”

“We’ve been looking for you all day!”

“Why didn’t you call us?”

Liam rubs the back of his neck as he looks to Zayn for guidance. Zayn’s eyes are wide and he looks slightly frightened. Liam’s pretty sure he hears Zayn whisper, “I’m so glad I’m an only child.”

“I’m so sorry guys,” Liam says, because what else can he say? “But can we just let it rest for now. I, uh, have a guest.”

Everyone’s eyes turn to Zayn. Liam feels bad, putting Zayn in the spotlight with no warning, but he really didn’t feel like having an argument in front of Zayn.

“Who the fuck is this?” Louis demands, glaring at Zayn.

“I’m, uh, Zayn Malik,” Zayn says, holding out a hand. No one takes it.

“Wait,” Harry says, looking between Zayn and Liam. “Is this _the_ Zayn Malik? The one that—”

“Yep!” Liam answers, a little louder than necessary. Zayn doesn’t need to know that he’s the source of their fight. “I got into some…trouble last night and he helped me out.” Liam smiles at Zayn, and Zayn’s cheeks color.

“Right,” Niall says. “Well thank you, Zayn, for taking care of our Liam, but you should probably go now. We have some important familial matters to discuss.”

“Oh yeah,” Zayn says, “of course. I didn’t mean to intrude. I just, uh, wanted to see that Liam got home safely.” He squeezes Liam’s hand. “Can I use your bathroom first, though? My office is all the way across town and I don’t really feel like holding it.”

Niall directs him to the upstairs bathroom. Once Zayn is out of the room, everyone turns back to Liam.

“So Liam,” Niall says, “are you going to tell us what the hell happened to you last night?”

Liam bites his lip, and then, quietly just in case Zayn can still hear them, he answers, “I went to look for the _Book of Shadows_.”

Their expressions don’t change, almost as if they’re sure what Liam is saying isn’t true and they’re completely unimpressed. Liam’s not sure what’s worse: this, or being yelled at. At least if he was being yelled at he’d know what they were thinking.

“You went to look for the _Book of Shadows_ ,” Louis says, “which we believe is in the Underworld, by _yourself_?”

Liam hesitates, but nods.

Then the explosion hits. Everyone starts yelling all at once, and Liam can’t tell who’s saying what. But everything seems to along the lines of, “How could you be so fucking _stupid_?”

Zayn comes back downstairs amidst the chaos, but no one really notices. He gives Liam a sympathetic look and a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving. When Liam turns back to his brothers and Harry, they’ve all stopped talking and are staring at him in disbelief.

“What?” Liam says. “Did I miss something?”

“Did he just kiss you?” Niall says.

Liam hopes they don’t notice the way his cheeks heat up. He doesn’t want to give them any more reason to yell at him, so he downplays it, saying, “It was just on the cheek. It doesn’t mean anything.”

He pushes past them and heads into the living room. He sits on the couch, waiting for them all to follow him. If he’s going to be scolded, he might as well be comfortable for it.

“Liam,” Niall says, sitting in the chair across from him, “I thought we told you to stay away from him until we decided that we could trust him.”

“We _can_ trust him,” Liam argues. “Look, last night he—”

“I don’t care what he did last night,” Louis says as he sits next to Liam on the couch. “I know that you’re attracted to him, Liam, but that is not enough reason for you to trust him. I mean, remember when I dated Nick? I thought I could trust him but then he turned out to be a fucking warlock. And we had dated for two years!”

“I trust him,” Liam repeats. “If you would just listen to me maybe you’d understand.”

“We are listening to you,” Harry says. Liam scoffs. If they were really listening to him they wouldn’t be interrupting him every three seconds. “But your brothers are right. He seems a little seedy and you shouldn’t—”

“He saved my life,” Liam interrupts. Which seems a bit rude, especially since it’s _Harry_ that he’s interrupting, but if he didn’t say it now then he never would have gotten the chance to.

They all gape at him. “What do you mean he saved your life?” Niall asks.

Liam sighs, glad that they’re _finally_ taking in what he’s saying. “Last night,” he says, “I went out to look for the _Book of Shadows_ —which was completely stupid, I know. We can get to that later. Anyway, I ran into some kind of a faceless demon and it was about to kill me when…Zayn showed up.” He smiles at the way Zayn’s almost like his guardian angel, showing up at the right place at the right time and saving Liam’s life. “He brought me back to his place and took care of me. If he was a bad person, why would he do that?”

Harry chews on his lip and Niall stares at his hands. Only Louis speaks up. “Liam,” he says, “I know he saved your life, but you have to admit that the circumstances are a little suspicious. I mean, what was he doing out in the middle of the night?”

Liam’s mouth goes dry. He had forgotten to ask Zayn that. And now that Louis mentions it, it doesn’t seem a little strange that he was there at all the crime scenes as well as to save Liam’s life. But Liam knows in his heart that Zayn is a kind, trustworthy person, and he’s not going to let Louis or Niall or Harry change his mind.

“It doesn’t matter,” Liam insists. “What matters is that he saved my life and I’m okay because of him. I’m _alive_ because of him.”

“Well maybe if you hadn’t run off last night you wouldn’t have almost died,” Niall points out. He shakes his head. “Liam, why did you do that? Why did you try to find the _Book of Shadows_ by yourself?”

“Because I wanted to prove myself to you,” Liam nearly shouts. “You guys have been getting on my case so much lately and calling me stupid for trusting in a guy I barely know. I just wanted to prove you wrong by getting the book back by myself. I’m sorry, I know I’m a complete idiot, but—”

Louis throws his arms around Liam and buries his head in his shoulder. Liam stays frozen as Niall crosses the room and throws himself on Liam and hugs him. Harry leaves the room, probably feeling as if he’s intruding.

“Liam,” Louis says, looking up, “I’m so sorry we made you feel inadequate. We love you, though, and we’re just trying to look out for you.”

“I know,” Liam says. He feels tears starting to well up at the corners of his eyes. He just feels so warm and loved with his brothers’ arms wrapped around him, keeping him safe. “I just wish you would let me make my own decisions every once in a while. And let me learn from my mistakes if I mess up.”

Niall snuggles in further. “Look Lou. Our little Liam is growing up. He doesn’t need us to hold his hand while crossing the street anymore.”

Liam rolls his eyes, sniffling as a couple of tears roll down his cheeks. “ _Guys_.”

“I’m sorry I’ve been so overprotective,” Niall adds. “I just don’t want either of you to get hurt. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if that ever happened.”

“I’ll be careful,” Liam promises, resting his chin on Niall’s head. “I just want a little more freedom.”

“Uh guys?”

The three of them look up to see Harry standing in the doorway, a book in his hands. And the book looks like—no. It can’t be.

“I hate to break up this little love fest,” Harry says. “But I just found the _Book of Shadows_ in the attic.”

***

Liam hears the soft words being spoken in his ear before he feels someone gently nudging him awake. He jerks awake, looking around wildly for some kind of demon. But all he finds is Zayn smiling fondly.

“I’m sorry,” Zayn says. “I didn’t want to wake you but the library is closing and I don’t think the librarian would have been as nice as me.”

 _No one would have been as nice as you_ , Liam wants to say. But instead he replies, “Thanks for waking me up. How long have you been here?”

Zayn shrugs. “Pretty much all day. Doing research for this case I’m working on. I saw you when I came in, but you looked like you were studying pretty hard. I didn’t want to interrupt anything important.”

Liam smiles. “Thanks. I was. Studying, I mean. Feels like I’ve spent my whole life studying. Probably why I’m so tired.”

Zayn laughs, but that’s not the reason Liam is so tired. After Harry had found the _Book of Shadows_ Niall, Louis, and Liam had spent all day and all night trying to figure out who had taken it and why they decided to return it so quickly. None of the pages were missing and it hadn’t been damaged in any way. Besides, no one but them had been in their house (as far as they knew, but a quick call to Leigh-Anne and she found that there was no instances of forced entry) except for one person.

Zayn Malik.

That was what had kept them up all night. Louis and Niall insisted that Zayn should be investigated, and until they deemed him innocent Liam shouldn’t see or talk to him. Of course, Liam argued with them every time they mentioned it, swearing on his life that Zayn was innocent. He was so confident that he told Leigh-Anne that she could run fingerprint tests on the book if she wanted (Niall, Louis, and Harry all objected to that, of course) to prove that Zayn is innocent. At that point he had grabbed the book and gotten a vision of the past.

Liam’s power is interesting in that he can’t _just_ see future events. He can also see past events, some that show him mistakes that were made that shouldn’t be repeated or some extra information that can help them with their demon hunting. In this vision, he saw a demon with a red face and black marks flipping through the _Book of Shadows_ and then he stops on one page.

The page with the spell to separate a witch from their powers.

When Liam had come out of his vision he explained to everyone that Zayn was innocent. That a demon had, in fact, taken the book. They all still seemed skeptical, but Liam flipped through the book, trying to find the demon he had seen. He found it easily enough (the red face really stands out) and read the name aloud.

“Belthazor.”

Just the sound of the name caused a shiver within Liam. Luckily, there was a vanquishing potion underneath the entry, which Louis and Harry promised to start working on as soon as possible. But the topic of Zayn still hadn’t been dropped then. Niall asked Liam if he was sure that Zayn wasn’t some kind of lower level demon that was working for Belthazor. The two of them had had a huge argument then, Liam demanding to know why Niall didn’t trust him, Niall yelling at Liam that he shouldn’t be so careless. They spent the rest of the night arguing.

Liam had stormed out the next morning. He had a test the next day and he didn’t want any annoying brothers interrupting him. But he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep, so he ended up falling asleep sometime in the afternoon.

And now it was evening, and Zayn was here.

“I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out with me,” Zayn says, “but it seems you’re too tired to do anything.”

Liam hesitates. He’s sure that Zayn would be able to keep him awake, but he doesn’t want his brothers to be even angrier with him for staying out late. And, as he stares down at his papers his eyes to become heavier and his mind starts to go a little fuzzy…

“Hey Li,” Zayn whispers, tapping on Liam’s shoulder. “Don’t fall asleep again.”

“Sorry,” Liam mumbles. “I’d like to go out with you, but I—”

Zayn nods. “I understand. Sleep is a priority.”

“Tell that to my brothers,” Liam grumbles under his breath. To Zayn he asks, “Can I have a ride? I took the bus here, and I don’t want to fall asleep on the bus and miss my stop.”

“’Course you can have a ride,” Zayn tells him. He helps Liam pack up his backpack and they leave just as the librarian is coming over to force them to leave. Zayn keeps an arm around Liam’s waist, keeping Liam steady when his eyes start to droop and his knees feel weak under the weight of his body.

Liam’s surprised when he gets outside and it’s pouring rain. This morning the weather had been so bright and beautiful, and now the cold wind bites at him and the rain pierces his skin with every drop.

They run to Zayn’s car to keep from getting rained on too much. Liam has to admit, it’s woken him up a bit. But then the second Liam gets inside Zayn’s car he’s asleep. All too soon Zayn is shaking Liam awake and helping him out of the car. He grabs an umbrella from the backseat and holds it over their heads.

“You want me to come inside with you?” Zayn asks, playing with Liam’s hands. “I could put you to bed if you want.” He winks.

Liam grins easily. And that’s just it. Despite what his brothers and Harry all say, everything about his relationship with Zayn is so _easy_. Whenever he’s around Zayn he forgets all about witches and demons and everything that’s ruined his life. All he knows his him and Zayn.

“You shouldn’t,” Liam whispers, just in case a window is open and his brothers can hear their conversation. Liam can’t even remember he’s gotten caught sneaking into the house during high school because of that. “I’ll be honest with you, my brothers aren’t really that fond of you.”

“Yeah I kind of got that from the last time I was here,” Zayn laughs. “Our love will just have to be a forbidden one then.”

Liam giggles and lets Zayn kiss him. Zayn’s kisses are so gentle, and he cradles Liam’s face so carefully in his hands, as if he’s afraid he’s going to break Liam. He always waits until Liam opens his mouth before slipping his tongue inside. He never goes any farther than where Liam wants to go.

He loves him.

The thought is jarring, especially because they’ve only known each other for an incredibly short amount of time. But when Liam thinks it, he knows it’s right. He’s never felt so consumed by a feeling, so sure of anything before now. And it’s all because of Zayn.

“You’ll be okay right?” Zayn whispers.

“What?” Liam asks, pulling back so that he can see into Zayn’s eyes, try to understand what he’s saying. “Of course I’ll be okay.”

Zayn smiles, but his eyes droop down in sadness. “Yeah, you will. Just—stay safe, alright?”

“I don’t—” Liam tries to say that he doesn’t understand, but Zayn’s lips turn down and he stops himself. “I’ll stay safe.”

Zayn pulls him in and presses a long, hard kiss to Liam’s forehead. He extracts himself from Liam and gets back into the car without another word. Liam watches him go, confused by Zayn’s behavior.

It’s late enough that Liam’s brothers are most likely in bed by now. At least, that’s what Liam’s hoping as he quietly sneaks into the house. There are no lights on, which is always a good sign. He’s about halfway up the stairs when a light flickers on, and Liam freezes and stares at Louis like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Where the hell have you been all day?” Louis demands, crossing his arms over his chest.

“The library,” Liam answers honestly. He just hopes Louis doesn’t ask—

“I saw a car pull up,” Louis continues. “Who dropped you off?”

—that.

Liam bites his lip and casts his eyes to the floor. “Zayn dropped me off,” he mutters quietly.

Louis lifts his chin up. “What was that?”

Liam looks up and glares at him. “Zayn dropped me off, okay. Go ahead and yell at me, tell me I’m completely stupid for continuing to talk to him when you specifically asked me—”

“Niall!” Louis yells, and Liam’s eyes narrow even more.

“Oh, now we’re going to get Niall involved,” Liam says. “Let’s invite Harry and Leigh-Anne while we’re at it. We’ll get the whole crew to yell at Liam. Actually, maybe we should summon Grams from the dead so she can yell at me too.”

Louis doesn’t respond, just waits for Niall to come downstairs. As soon as Niall starts coming down the staircase and sees Liam there, he says, “Oh look who decided to grace us with his presence.”

Liam rolls his eyes. “I don’t know why I even bothered coming home if you guys are just going to insult me.”

“Liam,” Louis says calmly, glaring at Niall, “We don’t want to yell at you. Isn’t that right, Niall?”

Niall nods. “We just want to have a civil conversation with you. We want to understand your side, and in turn we want you to try and understand ours. Should we go into the living room?”

Liam reluctantly follows them into the living room. At least they’re not going to scold him like he thought. Not that this is that much better.

Liam sits in one of the armchairs opposite the sofa while Louis and Niall perch themselves on the sofa. He crosses his arms and gives them an expectant look, waiting for them to start.

Niall sighs. “We think Zayn is dangerous.” Liam opens his mouth to argue, but Niall stops him with a hand. “Let me explain. We won’t interrupt you if you don’t interrupt us, okay?”

“Fine,” Liam agrees.

“Thank you,” Niall says. “We have good reason to think Zayn is dangerous. The first reason being that he continues to conveniently show up at every crime scene involving a demon despite being a lawyer and not a cop. And before you say anything about him showing up at other crime scenes, Leigh-Anne asked around at the station. She says that no one’s ever seen Zayn show up at any other crime scenes.”

Liam mulls this over. If Niall is telling the truth, that does seem a little suspicious. He doesn’t really have any reasonable explanation to counter that argument.

“Another reason we don’t trust him,” Louis continues for Niall, “is that we don’t know him. I know that doesn’t automatically make him untrustworthy, but I just want you to be careful around him until you get to know him better. Is that too much to ask?”

“No,” Liam says softly, looking down at his hands. “No, that’s not too much for you to ask.”

Louis smiles while Niall continues, “And lastly, there’s the whole _Book of Shadows_ thing. This doesn’t necessarily mean he stole it, _but_ when we discovered the book’s absence it was right after we had just met him at the crime scene with the Guardian. And when we found the book again, it was right after he had been here. Even if he didn’t steal the book, that’s a huge coincidence. Even you have to admit that, Liam.”

Liam bites his lip. Niall has a point, that this is a huge coincidence, but it’s not proof that Zayn stole the book. Especially after Liam’s vision of Belthazor being in possession of the book.

He brings it up now. “But I _saw_ the demon Belthazor with the _Book of Shadows_. Doesn’t that prove that Zayn didn’t take it?”

Niall and Louis share a look. “Well, we said earlier that Zayn could be one of his underlings,” Louis says. “But I discussed it more with Harry after you left. He said that he asked his bosses about Belthazor and they said that he’s half-human.”

Liam licks his lips, trying to figure out what that means. “But—how?”

Louis shrugs. “I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell Harry anything else. They said that that should give us enough information to find whoever took the book and is trying to steal our powers.”

“If Belthazor is half-human,” Liam says, his mouth feeling like it’s filled with cotton balls, “then that means that anyone could be him.”

Niall nods gravely. “Including Zayn.”

Liam stands up, shaking his head. “It’s not Zayn. I _know_ it’s not Zayn. I know that we’re trying to have a civil conversation, but I can’t sit here and listen to you trying to force me to believe in something that I know isn’t true.”

“And how do you know, Liam?” Louis asks. “We gave you our reasons. Now give us yours.”

And Liam would love to. The only thing is, he doesn’t have any legitimate reasons, not like Niall and Louis do. All of his reasons are feelings in the gut of his stomach. His only real proof that Zayn can be trusted was that vision he had, but it’s been ruined.

So he ends up saying, “Because I love him.”

After he says that, Niall and Louis give up being civil. They jump off the couch, screaming at Liam, asking him how he could know that so soon. How he could even _think_ of falling in love with someone he barely knows. Liam tunes them out as best as he can, turning his face away from them. But the remarks still manage to find their way to his ears and cut him deep beneath his skin.

At some point Harry comes downstairs and asks them what’s going on. Louis explains to them what they were meeting for and that Liam thinks he’s fallen in love with a possible demon.

Harry yawns, clearly having just woken up. “That doesn’t mean you have to scream in his face.”

“He wouldn’t listen to us if we didn’t,” Louis says.

“I’m not listening to you now,” Liam counters.

“Liam, you have to understand that—” Niall starts.

“I don’t have to understand _anything_ ,” Liam hisses. “Except for why you won’t talk to me like I’m a fucking adult.”

Niall and Louis visibly flinch at Liam’s words. Now they understand why Liam’s so upset with them. Not because of what they were accusing Zayn of (although, Liam was pretty annoyed about that), but because they continued to treat him like a child. Even after he’d asked them not to. And now it’s finally gotten through to them.

“We’re so sorry, Liam,” Niall says.

“We really are,” Louis says. “But just let me say this. And please don’t get mad at me for it, I’m just being honest with you. But—love is a complicated thing. And what do you know about love?”

Harry gapes at Louis. “Louis. I don’t think you should—”

Liam cuts him off, laughing sardonically. “What do _I_ know about love? What about you? What do _you_ know about love? Do you not remember not being in a similar situation? Being in love with Harry, but then finding out that he wasn’t human? Does that ring a bell?”

“That’s different,” Louis insists. “Harry isn’t evil.”

“Yeah, you got really lucky there, didn’t you?” Liam says drily. “But what if Harry hadn’t been a whitelighter? You loved him didn’t you? Even after you had been together for a short while. So don’t you fucking _dare_ tell me I don’t know anything about love.”

Liam doesn’t give them a chance to respond because as soon as he’s finished speaking he leaves the room and heads outside.

***

He vaguely remembers where Zayn lives from the other morning, and Liam struggles to find it after getting off the bus. It takes him twice as long to get there as it normally would, what with the drenching rain and being lost, but as soon as he spots Zayn’s slick, black, sports car, he knows he’s found the right place.

He runs up to the door and presses the buzzer. Zayn doesn’t answer right away, and Liam wraps his arms around himself to keep from shivering so much. Finally, Zayn’s voice comes through the speaker.

“ _Hello_?” he says, his voice sounding grainy in the cheap speaker.

“Zayn,” Liam breathes. “It—It’s Liam. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have come so late. It’s just I had a fight with my brothers and I didn’t want to be there anymore. And I came here because I didn’t know where else to go. I’m sorry, Zayn. I shouldn’t have assumed—”

“ _Leeyum_ ,” Zayn says, drawing out Liam’s name in the way he loves so much. “ _Of course you can come up here. I’ll buzz you in._ ”

A loud buzzing noise sounds and Liam quickly pulls the front door open. He practically runs up the stairs to the fourth floor where Zayn lives. Zayn already has the door open by the time Liam gets there.

“Fuck Liam,” Zayn gasps as he takes in Liam’s soaked clothes and hair. Liam smiles sheepishly. “You must be freezing. Come in, come in.”

Liam lets Zayn usher him in through the door with a firm hand planted on Liam’s back. He waits, dripping on Zayn’s carpet as Zayn runs to grab a towel from the bathroom. Liam wraps it around himself and tries to dry his clothes as best as he can so he doesn’t get any more water on Zayn’s floor.

He follows Zayn into his bedroom, watching as Zayn rifles through his drawers to find something for Liam to wear. Liam smiles to himself as he remembers the last time he was here and had to borrow Zayn’s clothes. He still has them. And he doesn’t really plan on returning them any time soon.

Zayn finds him an old football jersey and green sweatpants to wear. Liam thanks him, and then they awkwardly stand there for a second, just staring at each other.

“Oh!” Zayn says suddenly. “I should probably, uh, go. Let you get dressed in private.”

Liam stares down at the ground. The room suddenly feels way too small and even with the space between them, Liam can feel Zayn’s body heat radiating off of him. And Liam wants him more than anything.

“You don’t have to,” Liam says, his cheeks coloring as he looks up at Zayn. “You could stay.”

“Stay,” Zayn repeats as he slowly walks closer to Liam. “You want me to stay in here while you get dressed?”

Liam nods, biting his lip. The closer Zayn gets, the hotter Liam feels. Which he really doesn’t mind considering how cold he is from the rain. “You could help me get my clothes off.”

Zayn swallows thickly. He stops walking when their chests are pressed together. Zayn brings his thumb up and drags Liam’s lip down. Liam closes his eyes, his breathing becoming heavier.

“I shouldn’t,” Zayn mutters. “I really shouldn’t be doing this.”

Liam opens his eyes to find Zayn looking to the side instead of at Liam. Liam frowns, even though Zayn doesn’t see it. “Why not? We’ve kissed before. I want you to, Zayn.”

Zayn sighs, still not looking at Liam. “My, uh, boss doesn’t want us to be together. He thinks that because you’re a witness for the, um, case that I’m working on that you’ll be a distraction and I won’t get the, um, work done.”

Liam takes Zayn’s chin into his hand and gently turns Zayn’s head so that he’s facing Liam. Liam smiles and places a kiss onto Zayn’s chin. “Well then we just have to make sure your boss doesn’t find out.”

Zayn laughs. “I’m sure he’ll find a way. You don’t know him, Liam.”

Liam wraps his arms around Zayn’s neck and rests his forehead against Zayn’s. “No, I don’t know him. And maybe I don’t know you that well, yet. But I do know one thing.”

“What’s that?” Zayn asks, his voice shaking.

“I love you,” Liam says.

Zayn’s breath gets caught in his throat. “Fuck it,” he mutters as he leans forward and catches Liam’s lips in his own. It’s like relief when Liam melts into Zayn, a “finally” that Zayn says with his lips as he glides them over Liam’s.

Zayn arms go around Liam’s waist as he opens up his mouth and lets Liam slide his tongue inside. Liam feel the vibrations of Zayn’s moans as Liam runs his tongue over Zayn’s. He laughs into Zayn’s mouth, loving how weak he’s made Zayn like Zayn does to Liam every day.

Zayn pushes his hands underneath Liam’s wet shirt, separating it from his skin. Liam shivers as Zayn’s fingers glide easily up Liam’s spine, creating heat where there was only ice. Liam pulls away from Zayn’s lips, letting Zayn pull Liam’s shirt over his head. Zayn brings him back in as he throws Liam’s shirt somewhere across the room.

Zayn moves down to pepper Liam’s cheek and jaw in kisses. Liam sighs as he slips his hands under Zayn shirt and pulls him impossibly closer to Liam. He stops kissing Liam long enough for Liam to take Zayn’s shirt off, and then he goes back to kissing Liam’s neck. He bites at Liam’s neck, and Liam cries out, groaning in pleasure as Zayn licks over it.

“I love this birthmark,” Zayn murmurs against Liam’s neck, tickling him slightly. “Loved it since the first time I saw you.”

“What else,” Liam pants as Zayn continues kissing at his neck, probably right where the birthmark is, “what else do you love about me?”

Zayn laughs, tickling Liam even more. Liam feels as if his knees are going to collapse underneath him. “Someone has a big ego.”

“ _Zayn_ ,” Liam whines.

“Fuck that’s hot,” Zayn curses. He starts kissing down Liam’s chest. “I love how broad your chest is. So fucking strong. Like you could fight anybody you wanted to, but you’re much too sweet for that.” He sinks down onto his knees, kissing down the path of hair leading from Liam’s navel to beneath the waistline of his jeans. “I love how much you trust me. I love that you trust me to take care of you, make you feel good.” He grabs Liam’s dick through his pants and Liam gasps, gripping Zayn’s hair so that he doesn’t collapse. Zayn grins and starts unbuttoning Liam’s pants. “And I always want to make you feel good.”

It’s a bit of a struggle to get Liam’s pants off since the rain has practically glued them to Liam’s skin. Liam laughs at Zayn’s struggle, because if Zayn had been sexy before, he is absolutely adorable now as he furrows his brow as he tries to force Liam’s pants down his legs. Zayn glares at him, and vows that Liam will regret laughing at him.

Zayn gets his revenge a second after Liam’s pants and underwear have finally come off. Zayn bites and licks at the inside of Liam’s thigh, rubbing his hands everywhere but Liam’s cock. Liam is going absolutely insane, begging Zayn to just touch him.

Zayn shakes his head, his mouth coming so close to Liam’s dick, but then he just kisses his hip. Liam groans, tugging at Zayn’s hair to make him touch him.

“Zayn _please_ ,” Liam moans.

“All you had to do was ask,” Zayn says, smirking.

Liam doesn’t get a chance to respond because suddenly Zayn is taking him all the way into his mouth. Liam’s head falls back as he emits a cry that’s a mixture of relief and pleasure. He tightens his hold on Zayn’s hair as he feels the head of his cock hit the back of Zayn’s throat.

“Oh my god,” Liam sighs, not being able to resist thrusting into Zayn’s mouth.

He feels Zayn hum around his dick, clearly not minding Liam’s movements at all. Liam continues to thrust into Zayn’s mouth, gasping every time he feels the back of Zayn’s throat. It only takes a few more thrusts before Liam feels a tightening in his stomach.

“Zayn,” he pants, pulling on Zayn’s hair. “I’m about to come.”

Zayn pulls off instantly, licking along the shaft quickly before standing up. He kisses Liam on the mouth, smiling when Liam twists his face. “I don’t want you to come yet,” Zayn says, gripping Liam’s hips and pulling him hard against his body. “I want you to come from just my cock. I don’t want you to touch yourself. Can you do that for me, love?”

Liam nods, going in to kiss Zayn again. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of kissing Zayn, no matter how far they go with sex. He just loves the way Zayn’s mouth moves on his own, making Liam in weak in the knees.

Zayn leads Liam to the bed, Zayn falling backwards onto it, pulling Liam with him. They don’t stop kissing, in fact Liam’s pretty sure they couldn’t even if they wanted to. Zayn runs his hands all over Liam’s back, pulling him closer against his chest and grinding up against him.

Liam sits up and straddles Zayn’s hips. He leans down and kisses Zayn’s chest as he unbuttons Zayn’s pants. Zayn lifts his hips so that Liam can pull them off, and he brushes against Liam’s cock. Liam bites back a moan, but a soft sound still escapes his lips.

Liam pushes Zayn’s pants and underwear off the bed before leaning down against Zayn’s chest and kissing him again. Zayn’s hands slip down to Liam’s ass, and he squeezes it, making Liam grind down against him. Liam pants into Zayn’s mouth as his fingers dig into his ass and squeezes it tighter.

“Lube and condoms are in the drawer,” Zayn tells him breathlessly, tilting his head toward the desk next to the bed.

Liam blindly reaches over to the desk, knocking his hand around until he finds the handle of the drawer. Zayn laughs at him, but then Liam rolls his hips and Zayn’s laughter cuts off into a moan. Liam searches through the drawer, finding the condoms and lube easily considering they’re the only thing in there.

Liam raises an eyebrow at Zayn as he holds up the condoms and lube. “These were the only things in your desk.”

Zayn shrugs, sitting up bringing his lips close to Liam’s. “What else would I put in there?”

Liam grins, leaning forward and kissing him. Zayn’s hands rest on Liam’s cheeks as he moves his lips over Liam’s desperately, as if this is the last time they’ll ever see each other.

Liam uncaps the lube, and, taking one of Zayn’s hands off of his face, he squeezes some of it onto Zayn’s fingers.

With an arm wrapped around Liam’s back, Zayn reaches down with his other hand and gently slides a finger into Liam’s hole. Liam immediately clenches from the coldness of the lube. Zayn rubs his hand on Liam’s back, whispering in his ear to relax.

He slowly pumps his finger, making sure that Liam is comfortable every few seconds. Once Liam starts to feel a little better, he starts swiveling his hips around, his cock brushing Zayn’s every once in a while. Zayn will gasp every time it happens, and his finger will crook a little as he loses his control for just that moment. It gives Liam a lot of satisfaction.

“Are you ready for another one?” Zayn asks.

Liam nods and Zayn gently adds a second finger. Compared to what was happening before, when it was all heat and going so quickly, this is slower. They take their time with it, Zayn making sure that Liam has the best experience possible. Liam’s pretty sure no one has every treated him like this before.

Zayn crooks his fingers, scissoring Liam and Liam starts rolling his hips around more frantically. He rests his forehead against Zayn’s and they breathe heavily in each other’s spaces. Zayn squeezes Liam’s back every time their cocks touch, moaning softly into Liam’s ear.

Zayn adds another finger, and starts to move them faster. Liam feels nice and loose around Zayn’s fingers now, and starts to fuck himself down hard onto them. And that’s he feels it. Zayn hitting that bundle of nerves that makes his eyes water and his cock leak even more.

“ _Oh god_ ,” he groans, pushing back down onto Zayn’s fingers to feel it even more.

Zayn grins, and pumps his fingers even more enthusiastically. He continues to hit that nerve, and Liam throws his head back, losing himself in the rhythm of Zayn’s fingers. Zayn dips his head, kissing at Liam’s neck, right where his birthmark is.

“I’m ready,” Liam pants, straightening his head so that he’s looking at Zayn.

“Are you sure?” Zayn asks.

Liam nods. “Just—please. I need you to fuck me.”

Zayn pulls his fingers out of Liam and reaches for a condom. Liam kisses along the column of Zayn’s neck as Zayn fumbles with the condom wrapper. Liam reaches down, helping Zayn roll the condom onto his cock before slicking it up with lube.

“Ready?” Zayn asks, laying down flat against the bed. “It’s not too late to back out.”

Liam gives him a quick kiss on the lips in response, trying to tell him that this is everything he could have asked for and more. He sits back up, lifts up his hips, and then slowly lowers himself down onto Zayn’s dick. It feels a bit tight, and Liam has to sit there for a moment, taking it all in and adjusting to the size of it. Zayn rubs Liam’s hips, assuring him that he can take all the time he needs.

Liam starts to roll his hips, fucking down onto Zayn’s cock. Zayn thrusts up into Liam, and Liam claws at the sheets. Zayn holds onto Liam’s hips as he continues thrusting up, trying to find his prostate.

When he finds it Liam squeezes his eyes shut in pure ecstasy. He clings to the sheets as Zayn hits that spot over and over, making Liam cry and scream Zayn’s name. He reaches down to touch his cock, and Zayn slaps his hand away.

“No touching,” Zayn pants.

Liam nods and continues to fuck himself on Zayn, gasping, “Zayn, oh god, more, please, _Zayn_.” Liam moves his hands to Zayn’s chest for better leverage, and rides Zayn’s cock even faster, making the movements a little sloppy. But Liam doesn’t care. All he cares about is the passion, the heat, and Zayn.

Zayn grips Liam’s hips tighter to keep him steady, and that’s when Liam goes over the edge. He comes with a cry of Zayn’s name on his lips, squeezing around his dick. Zayn leans up and kisses him through it, slowing down his orgasm so that he can enjoy it more thoroughly.

Liam’s arms feel like jelly, and he lets Zayn flip them around easily. Zayn pants heavily into Liam’s neck as he continues fucking him, and then he’s coming, biting down on Liam’s shoulder.

Liam holds Zayn as they come down from their high. Zayn is still gasping into Liam’s shoulder, and Liam cards his hands through Zayn’s hair. Finally, Zayn extracts himself from Liam, pulling out of him and taking the condom off. He heads into the bathroom to throw it away and comes back with a towel.

Zayn straddles Liam as he cleans them off, rubbing at Liam’s chest gently. He smiles down at Liam fondly, not saying anything, just enjoying the moment. Liam sits up, grabs his hand, and kisses Zayn slowly.

Zayn drops the towel and places his hands on Liam’s neck, bringing him in closer. The kiss feels strangely chaste after what they just did, but Liam doesn’t think he could handle going any further at the moment.

With his arms wrapped around Zayn’s back, Liam lowers them so that they’re lying flat on the bed. Zayn continues placing small pecks on Liam’s lips as Liam runs his hands over Zayn’s back.

“I love you too, by the way,” Zayn says against Liam’s lips. “I didn’t know if you knew that or not.”

Liam strokes his cheek, smiling softly. “I think I did know. But thank you for telling me. And thank you for letting me stay here tonight.”

Liam almost misses the way Zayn’s face falls because the second after it happens Zayn is leaning down and kissing Liam passionately. Liam goes along with it, until he feels a wetness on his cheek. He pulls away, taking in Zayn’s red-rimmed eyes and tears staining his cheeks.

“Zayn,” he whispers, thumbing at his tears. Zayn nuzzles his cheek into Liam’s hand. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“I can’t,” Zayn says, choking on his words. “Fuck, I just—I love you so much, Liam. Please don’t ever forget that.”

“Zayn _please_ ,” Liam begs, because he hates seeing Zayn like this. “Just tell me what’s happening. I’ll understand, I promise.”

Zayn chokes on a watery laugh. “You won’t. I wish I could tell you, I wish I could do something about it, but—this is a power beyond our control, Liam.”

“Is it your boss?” Liam asks, though he has a feeling that if this was just about Zayn’s boss he wouldn’t be this upset.

Zayn shakes his head, confirming Liam’s thoughts. “It’s—nevermind. You should go home. If you stay here you could get really hurt.”

“I could get really—” Liam cuts himself off, not understanding any of what Zayn is saying. “Zayn, what are you _talking_ about?”

Zayn sits up, and gets off the bed. He starts gathering the dry clothes he had picked out for Liam earlier. Back before everything started getting so fucking complicated. “Just please go, Liam,” Zayn says, throwing the clothes at Liam. “I should have never let you up here in the first place.”

Liam stares at Zayn in disbelief. Whoever this is, it is not Zayn. Zayn would not carelessly throw Liam out after fucking and declaring his love for him.

Unless Niall and Louis were right. Maybe Liam really doesn’t know Zayn as well as he thought he did. Maybe this is who Zayn is. Someone who makes other people believe they’re in love with him, and then he fucks them and never sees them again.

But that doesn’t make sense. Why would Zayn be so upset then about making Liam leave? Liam doesn’t want to go without an explanation from him, but he knows that Zayn isn’t going to offer him one.

“Fine, I’ll go,” Liam relents, pulling on Zayn’s clothes. “I just need to know one thing.”

Zayn sighs, coming to sit on the edge of the bed. “I already told you, Liam, I can’t say anything.”

Liam shakes his head. He crawls across the bed and sits cross-legged beside Zayn. “It’s not that,” he says. “But if I ask you this, then will you promise to be honest with me?”

Zayn nods. “I promise.”

Liam takes a deep breath before saying quickly, “Do you really love me?”

Zayn smiles, a tear escaping out of the corner of his eyes. Liam reaches up to wipe it away, but Zayn catches his hand and brings it down to rest in his lap. He twines their fingers together, and looks down at them, smiling sadly.

“Yes I love you,” he says softly. “More than anything in the world. And that’s why I have to let you go.”

Liam wishes Zayn would tell him what that means, would tell him why the hell he would let Liam go if he loves him so much. Instead, Liam nods, stands up, and leaves the room. Only when he’s at the bus stop does he start crying.

***

It doesn’t matter that Zayn’s given him new clothes to wear because those get soaked too from him having to walk to and from the bus stop. He rubs at his eyes, hoping it’s not too obvious that he’s been crying so that his brothers don’t bombard him with questions.

Actually, he’s hoping he won’t run into his brothers at all.

He gets his wish, surprisingly. All the lights are off at the house when he arrives and the door is actually locked for once (for people that attract a lot of demons they’re really bad about locking the door). Liam trudges up the stairs, not even caring that he’s getting the carpet and floors wet. He’ll deal with it tomorrow. Or whenever he feels like getting out of bed again.

He shucks off Zayn’s clothes and puts on his own t-shirt and sweats. Even if they were dry, Liam wouldn’t have kept Zayn’s clothes on. It’s too painful to have his familiar scent surrounding him all night, reminding him about everything they had and how they can never have it again.

He curls up under the covers, holding his knees to his chest tightly. He squeezes his eyes shut, trying his best to keep the tears inside. But it’s just so much to deal with. His brothers not trusting him, Zayn turning him away after fucking him, his brothers being right about Zayn.

And that’s the worst part of it. Liam went and got his brothers pissed at him for Zayn, and then Zayn just fucking left him. And now his brothers aren’t even going to feel bad when they find Liam’s bed soaked in his tears. They’re just going to shake their heads and say, “We told you so.”

He’s not sure when exactly he fell asleep between being angry with his brothers and confused at what he did to make Zayn leave him, but when he wakes up to a crash somewhere in the house it’s nearly four in the morning.

He jumps out of bed, used to waking up in this fashion by now. He runs straight downstairs to find the source of the noise, only to find that Niall and Louis have beaten him there.

“Liam,” Niall says in surprise. “What the hell are you doing here? We figured you had gone to Zayn’s for the night.”

There’s another crash, one that has them all crouching in fear as they look around the room wildly. Liam turns back to them and says, “I’ll explain later.”

They agree, because even if they’ve had a fight, they’re witches first and foremost, and they have a duty to vanquish demons.

The run in the direction of the noise, which seems to be coming from the kitchen, only to find…nothing. There’s another crash from somewhere else, and they head there, and come up with the same result. After repeating the action another two times Louis sighs.

“It’s sending us on a wild goose chase,” he says. “It must be afraid of us.”

“Or it’s distracting us,” Liam says.

“You always were clever,” a gruff voice says from behind them.

They whirl around and find a demon standing there, a wide grin on his face. _Belthazor_. In person, the red face is even more gruesome. In Liam’s vision, the red had seemed to be like paint, but now it looks like blood. The black marks have some kind of pattern that Liam can’t quite figure out. They must be some kind of demonic symbols. But it’s the eyes of all things that has Liam pausing. They’re not black and soulless like most demons’ eyes are, they’re hazel and almost gold, familiar in a way that has Liam’s heart rate speeding up—

“Belthazor,” Niall says, reaching behind himself. “We’ve been expecting you. Why did you steal our book?”

“I’m not here to reveal all of my little plans with you before I kill you,” Belthazor growls. But his eyes linger on Liam and they seem a little sad.

“Alright then,” Niall says, and Liam notices that he now has his hand wrapped tightly around a bottle filled with bright purple liquid. “Louis, freeze him.”

Louis splays his hands to stop Belthazor in his motions. But nothing happens. Louis stares at Belthazor in disbelief, whipping his hands out over and over again.

“It’s not working, Niall,” Louis says with gritted teeth.

Belthazor laughs, and the house seems to shake beneath their feet. “You think you can stop me, little witch? My powers are much too great for you.”

 _Little witch_. Why does that sound so familiar? And why does Belthazor keep glancing back at Liam with those wide and beautiful brown eyes?

“Just throw the potion then, Niall!” Louis yells. “We don’t have any time to waste!”

Niall lifts his arm, but Liam notices Belthazor flinch. He turns to look at Liam one last time, and then Liam knows. He grabs Niall’s arm and wrenches the potion from his hand. Niall steps back, thinking Liam is going to vanquish the demon himself.

But he doesn’t.

He throws the potion on the ground, shattering it and letting purple liquid spill everywhere. He mouths, “Go,” at the demon as Niall and Louis yell at him. Belthazor inclines his head and then vanishes. Liam takes a deep breath before facing his brothers.

“What the hell was that, Liam?” Louis demands. “We had him right there. We could have killed him! Who the fuck knows if we’re going to get another chance like that again?”

“He’s right,” Niall says gravely. “That could have been our only chance to vanquish Belthazor and you just fucked it all up. How could you do that?”

“I don’t—” Liam’s mouth goes dry. He has no idea how to respond to them, tell them that they can’t vanquish Belthazor because he’s pretty sure it’s Zayn. They already hate Zayn, this would just give them more reason to hate him. “It just didn’t feel right,” he finishes weakly.

Niall and Louis stare at him incredulously for a couple of moments. Liam shuffles his feet as they study him, feeling his entire body heat up under their gaze. Louis finally breaks the silence.

“It just didn’t feel right,” Louis repeats. “He’s a demon, for fuck’s sake! He stole the _Book of Shadows_ and wants to destroy us. Explain to me how it ‘didn’t feel right’ exactly?”

Liam swallows thickly. “I just—I’ve had a really rough day, okay? I spent all day in the library with barely any sleep and then you guys yelled at me, so I went to Zayn’s to get away from it all. Except I couldn’t get away from it all because after fucking me he threw me out. So I’m sorry if I wasn’t really in the killing mood.”

It’s not at all why Liam stopped them from killing Belthazor, but it’s all the truth. And he’s fighting back tears as he stares down Niall and Louis resolutely, daring them to challenge him right now.

Finally Niall sighs and says, “Maybe we should all just get some sleep. We can talk about this more in the morning.”

Louis agrees with a grumble, but shoots Liam a glare, promising him that they’re not done with him. Liam starts to head up the stairs, but Niall’s voice stops him.

“What?” he asks Niall, rubbing at his eyes.

“I’m sorry about what happened with Zayn,” he says, completely sincere.

Liam’s grateful for it too. Even though it doesn’t fix everything, or anything really, it does help Liam a bit. Knowing that someone is on his side. “Thank you,” Liam says softly. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”

Niall nods. “Good night, Li.”

***

Liam sits on the edge his bed, listening for the sound of his brothers’ doors shutting. He finally hears the second _click_ of the lock and tiptoes out of his own room, shutting the door quietly behind him. He heads up the stairs toward the attic, taking a zig-zagged path to avoid the creaky parts of the stairs.

He makes sure to open and shut the attic door just as softly as his bedroom door. Although it’s not as close to his brothers’ bedrooms as his room is, his brothers have acquired heightened hearing from the amount of times demons have tried to sneak into their home.

He opens the _Book of Shadows_ that’s placed neatly on the pedestal in the middle of the room. He thumbs through it, looking for the red and black face that seems to be imprinted on the backs of his eyelids now. He finds it, and looks around before reading the spell aloud.

“ _Magic forces_

_Black and White_

_Reaching out_

_Through Space and Light_

_Be he far_

_Or be he near_

_Bring us the demon_

_Belthazor here._ ”

He holds his breath and then a flurry of wind appears in the room in front of the pedestal, sending pages and old toys flying. Liam lets it whip his hair back, holding on to the pedestal to stay upright. He bites his lip as a figure appears in the middle of the small tornado, hoping it’s not who he fears it is.

“So you’ve figured it out,” Zayn says when the wind dies down. “You always were clever.”

Liam steps around the pedestal so that he’s standing right in front of Zayn. He watches his eyes carefully before he reaches up a hand and slaps Zayn across the face. Zayn’s head snaps to the side and a red mark blooms on his cheek.

He turns back to Liam, a wry smile on his face. “I deserved that.”

Liam shakes his head, his eyes starting to water for what seems like the thousandth time that night. “Why, I don’t—I don’t understand.”

Zayn reaches out to embrace Liam, but Liam steps away, his back hitting the pedestal. Zayn nods, taking a step back to let Liam have some space. “I’m a demon, Liam. I’m Belthazor.”

“No shit,” Liam says, his voice cracking.

Zayn gives him a sympathetic look, and Liam has to turn his face away. “Right,” Zayn says. “But I’m still human, Li.”

Liam shakes his head. “Fuck you,” he spits. “You don’t get to fucking call me that. You don’t get to act like you still love me after you _lied_ to me. After you pretended to love me just so you could get close to me and make it easier to kill me and my brothers.” He bites down hard on his lip, and tears start to trail down his cheeks.

“ _Liam_ ,” Zayn says, shaking his head vehemently. “That’s not—you think I don’t love you? You think that it was _easy_ for me to go after you and your brothers? I had to, otherwise they would’ve killed me. I tried to tell them that I couldn’t do it, that you don’t deserve to die, but they wouldn’t hear it. None of my feelings were a lie, Liam. I love you.”

Liam laughs bitterly. “How can I believe a word you say?” he sobs. He whirls around, gripping the pedestal for leverage. He feels like if he doesn’t hold onto anything he’ll faint. “You say none of your feelings were a lie, but everything else was. _Everything_ , Zayn. Hell, you’re name isn’t even Zayn, it’s _Belthazor_ —”

“My name _is_ Zayn,” Zayn says. Liam thinks he hears him take a step closer to Liam, but he refuses to turn around and see. “And I am human. Half-human, anyway. I was born in 1893 to the mortal Yaser Malik and the demon Elizabeth. I was stolen away by my mother and raised in the Underworld to be evil. But no matter how hard I try to be evil my human side betrays me.”

Liam lifts his head, but still doesn’t turn. “Betrays you how?” he sniffs.

“When I kill,” Zayn says, and Liam shudders, “I always feel guilty. Demons aren’t supposed to feel guilt, they’re supposed to feel strength from their kills. But I don’t. And demons can’t—they can’t love, Liam.”

Liam’s breath hitches. “How do I know you love me, though? How do I know you’re not manipulating me?”

There’s a moment of silence, and then suddenly there’s a rough voice, so different from Zayn’s, saying, “Turn around, Liam.”

Liam really doesn’t want to, but his legs act before his brain can tell them not to. Zayn is no longer standing in front of him. Belthazor has taken his place.

Liam breathes unsteadily, fighting everything in him to fight this demon in front of him. Because in his eyes, he still sees Zayn.

“You see Zayn in this form, don’t you,” Belthazor says. “That’s why you didn’t let Niall kill me. And that’s why I couldn’t kill you. Because Zayn wouldn’t let me.”

Liam watches with wide eyes as Belthazor transforms back into Zayn. Liam remains frozen in place as Zayn takes a tentative step forward and carefully takes Liam’s hand in his. Liam’s breathing is still shaky, but he just keeps looking into Zayn’s eyes. He lets them calm him.

“I love you, Liam,” Zayn says. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I was. I knew I should have the moment I met you, knew that I would never be able to kill you, but I couldn’t say anything. They wouldn’t let me.”

“Who?” Liam finally says, his voice barely above a whisper. “Who wouldn’t let you?”

“They’re called the Triad,” Zayn tells him. “They’re the ones that sent me to kill you and your brothers. If they find out that I’ve fallen in love with you they’ll kill me. In fact, they’ll kill me just for telling you all of this.”

“I believe you,” Liam says. “I love you. And I don’t think I could be so sure of something like that if I didn’t trust you. But my brothers—”

“—will still want me dead,” Zayn finishes. He sighs. “I understand. I don’t know how I’ll survive with both the Triad and two witches on my ass.”

Liam chuckles, stroking the back of his hand down Zayn’s cheek. “We just have to get them to trust you as Zayn Malik before we tell them that you’re Belthazor.”

Zayn smiles, but shakes his head. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. They hate my guts already.”

“Only because you’re so suspicious at everything you do,” Liam laughs. “Always showing up at crime scenes and shit.”

Zayn grimaces. “So what you’re saying is I should lay low and your brothers will warm up to me then?”

Liam shrugs. “It’s hard to say, they’re both very stubborn. But it’s worth a shot. And you can tell the Triad that you’re laying low to spy on us. Wait, they don’t listen to everything we say, right?”

Zayn chuckles, shaking his head. “No. They do let us have our privacy. They usually just track our movements.”

“Thank god,” Liam sighs. “I can’t imagine what I would’ve done if I found out someone heard—what we were doing earlier.” Liam flushes with embarrassment.

Zayn laughs, using Liam’s hand to bring them closer together. “I think that’s exactly why they don’t listen to private conversations. Demons are very sexual in nature.”

Liam blushes even more. “I don’t think I needed to know that.”

Zayn lowers his face to Liam’s, their lips just barely brushing. “Oh believe me. You did.”

***

His brothers absolutely hate Zayn. They’ve had plenty of opportunity to get to know Zayn better, from Zayn picking up and dropping off Liam, helping Liam out with his homework, even inviting Niall and Louis to dinner. But no matter what they do, his brothers will never like Zayn.

They might also resent Liam a little. See, while Niall and Louis are working tirelessly to find Belthazor, Liam is running around, going on dates with Zayn, and not having a care in the world. Niall and Louis haven’t questioned him on his behavior yet, and Liam is glad for it. He doesn’t know what he would say if they did. It’s not like he can tell them that his boyfriend is Belthazor.

Despite all that, Liam is really happy. At first it was hard for him to deal with Zayn being a demon, but the longer Liam stays with Zayn, the more certain he is of his decision. Liam knows that he could get hurt, but now he understands that he’s putting Zayn in much more danger than he could ever be in by being with him.

But neither of them can stop themselves.

Liam just loves being with Zayn whenever and however he possibly can. Making out with him in his car before going inside his house, cuddling with him while watching _Downton Abbey_ in his apartment, listening to him tell Liam stories of his life in bed after they’ve had sex.

Or now.

Kissing and sucking on Liam’s neck as he’s trying to do homework. Liam tries to be mad at him, but then Zayn will pout and he’s just too adorable to stay mad at. Eventually Liam just stops trying to his homework and lets Zayn push him down flat onto the couch and trail his lips over Liam’s jaw and neck.

He’s giggling uncontrollably, because why won’t Zayn just _kiss_ him, and he doesn’t hear the door open.

“Glad to see you’re working hard.”

Liam pushes Zayn off of him, making him roll off the couch and onto the floor. Louis just stands there, his arms crossed over his chest as he glares at Liam. Liam blushes and avoids Louis’ eye.

“Yeah, I, uh,” Liam stutters, glancing at Zayn out of the corner of his eye. “I was just taking a break.”

Louis hums, watching the two of them very carefully. Zayn gets up and sits back down on the couch, but he keeps a wide space in between them this time. Liam doesn’t blame him. Usually when Zayn comes over to the house they try not to act like a couple as much as possible. This is the first time one of Liam’s brothers have caught them in the act.

Finally, Louis says, “Liam, can I talk to you in the kitchen?”

Liam throws Zayn an apologetic look as he follows Louis out of the room. Louis at least has the decency to make sure that the door has closed behind them before he starts yelling at Liam.

“What the fuck were you doing in there?” Louis demands.

Liam rolls his eyes. “C’mon, Lou, you know that we’ve been dating. I don’t know why you’re acting so shocked.”

“I just can’t believe you’re so comfortable with having him here,” Louis counters. “No, wait, I can’t believe that you thought that we’d be okay with you two making out on our couch.”

“I don’t understand why you guys hate him so fucking much,” Liam says. “He’s tried to reach out to you, be a nice guy, but you keep denying him. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What the hell is wrong with _you_?” Louis throws back in his face. “We’re trying to hunt down a demon and you’re acting like none of it even matters as you run around fucking your boyfriend who could very well be a demon!”

And there it is. The worst part is, Louis’ right. His boyfriend is a demon, in fact the very same demon they’ve been looking for. But he can’t tell them that, not yet. Because if he tells him now then he and Niall won’t even hesitate to kill him.

“Dinner,” Liam blurts suddenly.

“What?” Louis says.

“Let’s have him over for dinner,” Liam elaborates. Louis opens his mouth to protest, but Liam interrupts him, “I know you hate his guts, but just give him a chance. You can grill him all you want, but at least give him a chance to show you he’s a decent guy.”

Louis chews his lip, mulling it over. Liam digs his fingernails into his palm, hoping that Louis will say yes, but knowing that he’ll say no.

“Fine,” Louis sighs.

Liam blinks at him. “What?”

Louis rolls his eyes. “ _Fine_ , he can stay for dinner. But don’t think we’ll go easy on him just because he’s your boyfriend.”

Liam grins, wrapping Louis up in a hug. Louis grumbles and whines, but Liam refuses to let go. “Thank you, thank you,” he says. “You’ll love him, I promise.”

“I seriously doubt it,” Louis mutters as he removes himself from Liam and leaves the kitchen.

Liam sighs. If only there was some way he could have a vision of this evening going well.

***

Dinner is going surprisingly well so far. If you count nearly half an hour of silence and the sounds of forks scraping against plates “going well”. At least Niall and Louis aren’t yelling at Zayn. Yet.

Liam keeps his ankle hooked around Zayn’s foot the whole time, making sure he understands that Liam is right there for him no matter what happens. Even if Zayn gets angry and turns into Belthazor.

Oh god, he hopes Zayn doesn’t get angry and turns into Belthazor.

Liam knows that Zayn has good control of his demon side, but he’s still afraid that it might happen. It’s just that Zayn has been so tense this entire evening and Liam doesn’t know if (or when) he’s going to snap.

“So Zayn—” Harry starts, making everyone snap their heads toward him. Liam had actually forgotten that he existed for a moment. “What?” he demands. “The least we could do is act like we don’t have a problem with him.”

Liam turns beet red, while Niall and Louis hide their faces in shame. Liam doesn’t even want to know what Zayn’s reaction is.

But then he hears a snort from beside him, and he looks up to see Zayn laughing, his nose and eyes crinkled. Liam would find it adorable if he wasn’t so confused. Zayn turns to him and shrugs.

“He’s got a point,” he says to Liam. “I mean,” he turns his attention to the rest of Liam’s family, “it’s no secret that you all hate me. I wish you didn’t, but I’m also realistic and I’m not going to deny what’s true.”

“Zayn, we don’t _hate_ you,” Niall tries, but Liam cuts him off with a glare.

“Then why won’t you talk to him?” Liam challenges, crossing his arms.

Zayn places a gentle hand on his elbow and gives him a soft smile. “It’s alright, love.” He notices Louis’ narrowed eyes then and his smile disappears and he takes his hand away from Liam’s arm. Clearing his throat, he says, “Harry, continue. Please.”

“Right,” Harry says, eyes darting between Louis and Zayn, fearing for when the inevitable fight is going to break out. “So Zayn, you said you were a lawyer, yeah?” Zayn nods in confirmation. “What’s that like?”

“Oh it’s definitely interesting,” Zayn answers. Harry leans in to give Zayn his full attention while Louis rolls his eyes. Liam sticks his tongue out at Louis. Louis flips Liam off in response. “I mean, it is a lot of paperwork, but it’s worth it to be in court. That’s where all the excitement happens.”

“What about crime scenes?” Louis blurts. “What does your job have to do with those?”

“I, uh—”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Louis?” Liam shouts, slapping his hands flat on the table. He feels Zayn’s hand on his back, and he’s pretty sure that Zayn whispers something like, “Liam, don’t,” but Liam is livid. He can’t just sit there and let Louis insult his boyfriend when he’s done nothing wrong.

Well, when he’s trying to redeem himself for doing a lot of wrong things. Whatever. Louis still shouldn’t insult Zayn like that when he’s trying his best to become a better person.

“What?” Louis says, like this isn’t a huge fucking deal. “I’m just asking him a question.”

“No,” Liam insists. “You’re accusing him. Can we get through one fucking conversation without you accusing him of being a—”

“I think it’s time for dessert!” Niall suddenly shouts, clapping his hands together. “Liam, Louis, would you please assist me in the kitchen?”

Liam and Louis have no choice but to listen to their oldest brother, and they get up reluctantly. Liam makes sure to smack a very loud kiss on Zayn’s cheek before going though. Louis shoves him into the doorway.

Niall closes the door then turns on them. “Can you two be civil for one second? Louis, I know you don’t like Zayn. I don’t either, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t treat him like a human being.”

“That’s right,” Liam agrees, glaring at Louis.

Niall looks at Liam. “Don’t think you’re not in trouble. You almost said ‘demon’ out there, Liam. You almost revealed to Zayn what we were.”

“That is if Zayn doesn’t already know since he’s a demon,” Louis mutters.

Liam lunges at Louis’ stupid smirking face, but Niall gets in between them. But Liam’s been taking boxing for years, and easily fights Niall off. He punches Louis right in the mouth, knocking him back into the wall.

“What the fuck, Liam?” Niall exclaims.

Louis just laughs, wiping at the blood on the corner of his mouth. “I didn’t think you actually had that in you, Li.”

“Fuck off,” Liam hisses. “Unless you want your nose to match your lip.”

The door opens then and Harry comes in, gasping and hurrying to Louis’ side when he notices that he’s hurt. “I think we’ve had enough of that,” he says.

“What are you doing here, Harry?” Louis asks as Harry holds a hand over Louis’ lip to heal it. “If you leave Zayn out there alone who knows what he’ll do.”

“You’re just begging for a broken nose, aren’t you?” Liam grinds out, the only thing holding him back is Niall’s death grip on his arm.

“Can you two please promise not to hurt each other until I get back?” Harry sighs.

“Get back?” Niall says. “Where are you going?”

“I’ve been summoned,” Harry explains. “I came in here so I could let you know I’d be leaving. And I couldn’t exactly orb out in front of Zayn, now could I?”

“He probably already knows you’re a whitelighter,” Louis says, throwing a smirk towards Liam.

Liam narrows his eyes, but refuses to give Louis a response. He can’t let him think he’s gotten to him that easily again.

Harry sighs again. “Just—please don’t hurt each other,” he repeats. “For my sake, at least. You know I hate seeing you guys get hurt.”

“Fine,” Liam mutters, and he thinks he hears Louis say the same.

Harry orbs out in a flurry of sparkles and light. It’s all very magical, and the first time Liam saw it he was in complete awe. Now it’s just annoying.

“I’m just going to take Zayn home, I think,” Liam says. “I can’t stand being around here anymore.”

Louis opens his mouth, most likely to make another stupid retort, but Niall hits his shoulder, warning him not to get Liam worked up again.

Liam finds Zayn staring down at his phone in his lap, clearly bored out of his mind. He tiptoes up behind his chair, and wraps his arms around him. Zayn tenses up at first, but then relaxes once he realizes it’s Liam. He tilts his head up and lets Liam press a light kiss to his forehead.

“Hey baby,” Liam says. “I’m sorry we left you all alone out here.”

Zayn shrugs. “It was fine. I got some emails sent out.”

Liam laughs, resting his chin on the top of Zayn’s head. “We should go. My brothers and I are kind of…”

“Pissed at each other?” Zayn offers.

Liam nods. “Exactly. Except it’s mostly just me and Lou. Either way, I just need to get the hell away from them. Can we go to yours?”

“Of course,” Zayn says, extracting himself from Liam’s arms and standing up. “I’ve got _Criminal Minds_ queued up on Netflix and a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream with your name on it in the freezer.”

Liam kisses him. “Sounds perfect.”

***

For what had seemed like the worst night ever, Liam is really enjoying himself. He loves this. Just cuddling with Zayn on his couch, feeling Zayn’s arms tighten around him when something bad happens, hiding his face in Zayn’s chest whenever there’s too much violence onscreen.

Every time that happens, Zayn will nuzzle his cheek and say, “Babe, you literally fight demons for a living. How is this too much for you?”

Then Liam will shift back into Zayn’s chest even more, even though it’s impossible for them to get any closer. “I know,” he’ll say. “There’s just usually not so much _blood_.”

And then Zayn will laugh, his breath tickling Liam’s ear. And, okay, it may not be the perfect situation. But Liam is perfectly happy the way they are.

Liam ends up falling asleep at some point, Zayn’s body curled around him protectively. He has a dream, vivid in a way that his dreams have never been, but his premonitions are.

Liam watches Louis, Niall, and Harry argue with each other in the foyer of their house. Niall and Louis both have their coats on, and seem to be on their way out, but Harry keeps stopping them. Liam can’t tell what any of them are saying since they’re all talking at once. But he catches the words “Liam”, “Zayn”, and “Belthazor”.

Finally Harry manages to calm them all down, and says in a clear voice, “You should tell Liam before you do it. He’ll be devastated if he finds out what happened to Zayn and you never told him.”

“He won’t believe us,” Louis sighs.

“But we have evidence now,” Niall says. “I know he loves Zayn but he can’t deny the evidence. And once he realizes what Zayn is he’s not going to choose that over his brothers.”

“You guys need to hurry though,” Harry says. “I can still sense Liam, but he’s at Zayn’s. We can’t afford to keep him in danger anymore.”

“Are you sure that we can’t just vanquish Za—Belthazor and then tell Liam?” Louis asks. “I just feel like that will be much easier to deal with.”

Harry shakes his head as Niall says, “Liam has a right to know what we’re going to do to him. You know how he feels about him.”

“He’s a demon, Niall,” Louis says.

“Half-demon,” Harry corrects. “He does have a human side, the side Liam fell in love with. I’m sure he’ll want to say goodbye to Zayn before you vanquish Belthazor.”

Louis finally relents with a sigh. “Fine. Let’s go get Liam.”

Niall nods, taking out his phone. “I’ll call him to let him know we’re coming.”

Liam jerks awake, hearing his phone vibrating on the coffee table. He presses his forehead to his hand, trying to figure out if what he’d just witnessed was a dream or a vision. It didn’t seem like a dream, but he’s never had a vision come to him while he’s sleeping like that. Not just that, but it didn’t seem like it was a past vision or something that will happen in the future, it seemed like it was happening _now_.

There’s only one way to figure out for sure. He grabs his phone and glances at the caller ID. _Niall_. So his vision was of the present. Which means that his brothers and Harry have figured out that Zayn is Belthazor. And they’re going to vanquish him.

Liam presses “decline”, knowing that they’re just going to show up here anyway. He stands up, pacing around the room to try and figure out what to do. His brothers are positive about Zayn’s true identity, and they’re not going to change their minds about that. So Liam needs to warn Zayn so they can hide—

That’s when he notices. Zayn’s gone. He wasn’t wrapped around Liam when he woke up. And he’s not in his room. Or the bathroom. Or the study. He’s disappeared, no note, no explanation, nothing.

Oh god. What if Louis and Niall have already trapped him somewhere and are only waiting to kill him so Liam can say goodbye? What if the Triad found out about his and Liam’s relationship and have killed him? Every possibility Liam runs through his mind ends up in Zayn’s death, and that really is doing nothing for his sanity.

With shaking fingers, he dials Zayn’s phone number, begging him to answer. His heart sinks when he hears Zayn’s phone ringing on the kitchen counter. His breaths become shallow and ragged as he picks up Zayn’s phone gingerly and presses “decline”.

He sinks onto the floor, head in his hands. There’s nothing he can do now besides accept Zayn’s fate. It’s just so unfair. He finally finds someone that he really likes and clicks with, and of course they can’t be together. Everything was going so well too. Zayn was redeeming himself, becoming a better person for Liam. Why did it have to end so soon?

He pulls his knees up to his chest, and, burying his face in them, starts to sob. His tears start to stain his—no, _Zayn’s_ —sweatpants as he heaves out big, heaping sobs. His voice is choking and it’s starting to hurt to breathe, but that’s good. Anything is better than feeling the loss of Zayn.

There’s a knock at the door, and voices calling, “Liam, please open up! We know you hate us, but it’s important!”

Liam stands up, not bothering to wipe at his eyes. He wants his brothers to see how much this is destroying him. How unfair he thinks all of this is.

He pulls the door open angrily and glares at his brothers. Their faces soften as they take in Liam’s wrecked face, and Niall leans forward to hug him. Liam steps back.

“You know don’t you?” Louis says as Niall crosses his arms over his chest, looking ashamed. “What Zayn is.”

“I’ve known for a few weeks now,” Liam tells them. “Since the night we faced him the first time.”

His brothers gape at him. “And you continued dating him?” Louis says incredulously. “How could you be so fucking stupid, Liam? He tried to kill us! He stole the _Book of Shadows_!”

“ _Belthazor_ did all that,” Liam says. “Zayn isn’t Belthazor. He has control over that half now. And the only reason he did all those things was because the Triad would kill him if he didn’t. You have to believe me. Zayn may have been born evil, but his heart is good.”

“Liam,” Niall says, “I know you love him, but he’s—”

“I know you’re going to kill him,” Liam interrupts. “I had a vision of you discussing whether or not you should tell me. You probably shouldn’t have told me, actually. Because then I wouldn’t have tried to stop you.”

“We have to vanquish him, Liam,” Louis says. “If not to protect us, then to protect the innocent. You can sympathize with that at least.”

“C’mon Liam,” Niall says. “You’re not going to choose him over your brothers.”

Liam’s hard gaze softens at Niall’s words, guilt churning in his stomach. He wishes Niall was right, that he _wouldn’t_ choose Zayn over his own brothers. His brothers that have been with him through everything, who would never hesitate to risk their own lives to save Liam’s. Would Zayn do the same? Liam likes to think that he would, but he’s not sure.

The problem is though, Liam has already chosen Zayn over his brothers. Every argument they’ve had about Zayn being a demon, and Liam defending him, was Liam choosing Zayn. The only way he can prove to his brothers that he still cares about them, above all else, is to help them vanquish Zayn.”

He takes one last look around Zayn’s apartment, remembering all the happy memories they’ve made there despite being in a time of anger and despair. Then he turns back to his brothers.

“Let’s go.”

***

Apparently Niall and Louis had scryed for Zayn before they left, and found him at a cemetery near Zayn’s apartment. He notices that the two of them came prepared with nearly five bottles of the vanquishing potion, just in case Liam gets in their way. Liam doesn’t care anymore though. Let them do what they want.

Liam waits in the car as Niall and Louis grab copies of the vanquishing spell and potion, preparing for the battle. When they’re finally ready, they open the back door for Liam, waiting for him to get out.

“I can’t,” Liam chokes out, feeling the tears coming back. “Please don’t make me—”

“We won’t,” Niall says hurriedly. “We won’t make you see this. But—are you sure you don’t want to say goodbye to him?”

Liam shakes his head. “I don’t want my last memory of him to be this.”

Niall and Louis seem to understand, and leave him be. Liam swallows down his sobs; his throat still hurts from crying earlier. He just needs to accept this defeat. That there’s no way that he can keep Zayn but not disappoint his brothers.

He unbuckles and lies down across the back seat. His back hits something, and he jerks up. He picks up a vial that Niall and Louis must have accidentally left behind, and then he’s suddenly plunged into a vision.

_“Just throw the potion then, Niall!” Louis yells. “We don’t have any time to waste!”_

_Niall lifts his arm, but Liam notices Belthazor flinch. He turns to look at Liam one last time, and then Liam knows. He grabs Niall’s arm and wrenches the potion from his hand. Niall steps back, thinking Liam is going to vanquish the demon himself._

_But he doesn’t._

_He throws the potion on the ground, shattering it and letting purple liquid spill everywhere. He mouths, “Go,” at the demon as Niall and Louis yell at him. Belthazor inclines his head and then vanishes._

Liam gasps as he comes back to the present. He nearly falls out of the car in his haste to get out. He has to stop his brothers before they vanquish Belthazor.

He knows what he has to do.

***

“Wait!”

Liam’s voice has Niall and Louis stopping in their tracks. They look around wildly, thinking that there’s something trying to attack them. Liam knows he probably shouldn’t use such a panicked voice in a situation like this if there’s not something seriously wrong. But Liam is afraid that he’s too late.

“Liam?” Niall says. “What are you doing? I thought you didn’t want to see this?”

“I—” Liam struggles to come up with an explanation for his sudden change of heart. “I just realized that I should be the one to do it. That Zayn at least deserves that.”

Niall and Louis exchange a quick look. Although he knows that none of them inherited the power to read minds, he sometimes think that Niall and Louis did with the way they communicate with no words sometimes.

“We’re taking away the love of his life,” Niall says. “We owe him this much. Go ahead, Li. We saw some activity coming from the mausoleum. We think he’s in there.”

Louis sighs, and holds out the spell as well as a vial of potion. “You don’t have to do this, Liam. We can take care of it for you.”

Liam shakes his head. “I kind of do,” he says. He accepts the spell, but denies the potion.

Louis twists his face up in confusion. “You don’t need the potion?”

Liam holds up the vial he found in the car. “I’ve got my own.”

Liam takes a deep breath as he turns away from them and heads toward the mausoleum. It’s strange how anticlimactic it all feels. He had thought that he’d see flashes of him and Zayn being happy together play in his mind, reminding him that this is the end.

 _No, it’s not the end_ , Liam reminds himself. _This is just a detour._

He heads down the mausoleum steps, his breath caught in his throat. He stands on the last step and glances around the room for Zayn. Maybe Niall and Louis were wrong. Maybe Zayn isn’t in here after all—

“I knew you would come.”

Zayn appears from behind a pillar, his face covered in cuts and bruises. Liam rushes to his side, his hands soothing over all of Zayn’s wounds. Zayn closes his eyes, humming in content as Liam’s hands roam over his face.

“Oh my god,” Liam whispers. “What happened to you? Are you okay?”

Zayn takes one of Liam’s hands off of his face and kisses his fingertips, one by one. “I’m fine,” he insists when he’s done, holding Liam’s hand in between both of his. “All that matters to me is that you’re okay.”

“My brothers are here to vanquish you,” Liam admits. “I tried to stop them, but—”

“No,” Zayn says, shaking his head. “Let them kill me. I deserve it, for everything I’ve done. Besides, if they don’t kill me, then the Triad will. I’m surprised they didn’t.”

“Is that why you disappeared?” Liam says. “The Triad summoned you.”

Zayn nods. “They found out about our relationship and gave me a warning. They said that if I didn’t kill you and your brothers now then they would do much worse to me. I was sent here because they knew that you would be coming here to vanquish me.”

“ _They’re_ here to vanquish you,” Liam says. “I’m here to save you.”

Zayn gives him a sad smile. “I love you, Liam.”

“Why does that sound so much like goodbye?” Liam asks. “I have a solution.”

Zayn tugs Liam into his chest and presses his lips to his forehead. “What is it?” he asks, his voice sounding tired like Liam was just a moment ago.

“I had a vision,” Liam says, resting his head on Zayn’s shoulder. “It was of the first time Belthazor came and attacked us. I stopped Niall and let you go. And it gave me an idea.” He looks up at Zayn and brushes his lips against his cheek. “I’ll tell my brothers that I vanquished you, but really you go and hide. From us, from the Triad. It’s not the best, but at least you’d be alive.”

Liam thinks that with the ferocity in which Zayn kisses him that he thinks that it’s a brilliant idea. Liam smiles as Zayn lowers his hands on Liam’s back and pulls him in closer, opening his mouth with a tongue.

Then Zayn pulls back and there are tears in his eyes. “I love you so much, Liam. I love that you have so much faith in us, in everything. But that won’t work. Nothing is going to work. I’ve accepted that, and I need you to accept that otherwise I’ll die feeling like I’ve failed you for not trying hard enough.”

“You’re not going to die,” Liam says angrily. “You don’t understand, Zayn, I had that vision for a _reason_. The only times I have visions is when it’s to save an innocent life. That vision was for _you_ , Zayn. You’re my innocent. And I’m going to save you.”

“Okay,” Zayn says, thumbing at Liam’s lower lip. “We’ll see how this works.”

“It _will_ work,” Liam insists.

Zayn smiles, giving Liam a quick peck on the lips. “I’ll go somewhere far away and keep my shimmering on the down low.” At Liam’s confused look he explains, “Shimmering is how I teleport. Like how whitelighters orb. But the Triad uses our shimmering to track our whereabouts. If I don’t shimmer, they won’t know where I am.”

“And I’ll tell my brothers that I vanquished you,” Liam says. “But we’ll have to stay apart for a while. Just until the Triad is convinced that you’re dead.”

Zayn kisses Liam’s neck, right over his birthmark. “And then we can continue where we left off.”

Liam pulls away from him slightly. “Actually, I think we should just start over. No demons, no Triad, no brothers, nothing. Just the two of us.”

“Just the two of us,” Zayn whispers. He gives Liam one last kiss that lingers on his lips even after Zayn has stepped away.

“I love you,” Zayn says, and then vanishes.

“I love you, too,” Liam says, tears springing to his eyes. He doesn’t know why he’s so upset. Zayn is alive. That’s what he wanted right?

He smashes the vial onto the ground and it explodes despite there being no demon to vanquish. A few moments later he hears footsteps on the mausoleum steps and his brothers’ faces appear. They stare at the empty space in front of Liam.

“Oh Liam,” Niall says.

“I’m so sorry,” Louis says.

Liam sniffs, wiping at his eyes. He crumples the spell and throws it to the ground.

***

**Epilogue**

Louis and Harry’s wedding ceremony is beautiful. It’s just them and Leigh-Anne, who refused to miss out on Louis’ wedding. They were originally a little hesitant to let Leigh-Anne come because although she’s adjusted well to the whole witchcraft thing, they’re not sure how she feels about ghosts.

As it turned out, Harry’s bosses decided to accept his and Louis’ relationship seeing as how well they were able to handle being together despite all the drama that happened to them. And, as a wedding gift they let Niall, Louis, and Liam’s grandmother officiate the ceremony, and their mother walk Louis down the aisle.

Liam had cried when he saw his mother in Louis’ room, helping him get dressed for the wedding. Their mother had died when Liam was just a baby, and he’d never gotten to spend any time with her. Until today. He knew it was Louis’ day, but he held onto his mother and just cried into her shoulder until he’d memorized the feel of her arms around him.

“I know you’ve been through so much, Liam,” she said as she held Liam’s tear-stained face in her hands. “But it’s all going to be okay.”

Liam nodded, believing her because she was his mother.

They had their mother until midnight, so she’s able to stay for dinner after the ceremony, even though she can’t eat any of it. But it’s wonderful, she spends the entire meal recounting embarrassing stories of when Louis was a little kid while Harry snorts.

“Is it midnight yet?” Louis grumbles while hiding his face in Harry’s chest in shame. But Liam knows that he’s just as reluctant to let their mother go.

Liam offers to take care of the dishes since Niall did most of the wedding planning. As he’s rinsing off plates, he hears the door open and shut behind him. His mother comes to stand beside him and starts drying off dishes.

“Mom,” he says, and he doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of using that word, “you don’t have to help. This is Louis’ big day. You’re here for him.”

“I spent the whole day with him, dear,” she says. “And five years of his life. I never got to spend any time with you. I’m sure Louis won’t mind me being gone for ten minutes. Besides, there was something I need to talk to you about without your brothers overhearing.”

“What’s that?” Liam asks.

“Zayn.”

Liam nearly drops the plate he’s holding to the ground. He catches it at the last second and places it on the counter. He turns to his mother, his eyes wide with shock. “How do you know about him?”

“I watch you from up there,” she says. “I just need to make sure my babies are doing alright without me. And I noticed that you’ve been having a rough couple of months. It’s part of the reason why I pushed to be here so hard.”

“Not for Louis?” Liam says.

“Of course for Louis,” she says. “A mother doesn’t want to miss her child’s wedding day. But I wanted to cheer you up too. Let you know that you’re going to be okay.”

Liam sighs, dipping his hands into the water and letting the heat soothe him. The first couple of weeks after Zayn left, Liam had been fine. He knew that Zayn would be coming back for him one day, and he wasn’t so dependent on Zayn that he could live without him. But as the days went by and Zayn never showed up, Liam started to lose faith in him. Now he’s positive that Zayn won’t come back.

“I just,” Liam says, “I loved him so much. He was everything to me, and the best part was that I knew he felt the same about me. That I had no doubts in his love for me whatsoever.” He takes his hands out of the water and slaps them on the counter. The sting feels so good. “And then fate had to go and ruin it all by making him a demon.”

Liam’s mother comes over and wraps Liam up in a hug. Liam falls into her warmth, letting her comfort him like his favorite blanket during winter. She strokes his hair and starts humming a song that Liam doesn’t recognize.

“I can’t tell you what’s going to happen,” she says softly. “But I can tell you this. I know that you’ve lost all hope for your relationship. You need to get it back. Because if you keep hoping, he will come back for you.”

Liam shakes his head, burying it in her chest. “That’s what I thought at first, but then he never came back. How can you be so sure that he will?”

“Because I don’t just watch over you,” she says. “I watch over your friends, your partners, just to make sure you’re safe with them. And at first I was so scared to let you be with Zayn, almost asked to be let down here so I could stop you. But I could tell that he hated that part of himself, that he fought so hard against it. And do you know why he did?”

“Because he loved me,” Liam answers with the utmost certainty.

“With all his heart,” his mother confirms. “Both his human half and his demon half. Love that strong just doesn’t go away. Look at Louis and Harry. There were so many rules against their union, and yet, here we are. Celebrating their marriage. If you believe in your love, if you have _hope_ in it, then he will come back for you.”

Liam nods, and finds himself believing in her again, but this time not just because she’s his mother. Because he knows, deep down in his heart that he never really had given up hope for him and Zayn. He just needed to be reminded.

About five minutes before midnight they send Louis and Harry off onto their honeymoon in Hawaii. Harry offered to orb them there, but Louis said that he wanted a nice traditional honeymoon with as little magic as possible. (“Of course,” he had added, “if a demon ends up attacking us then we can’t really help that. And that would be just our luck, wouldn’t it?”)

When they say goodbye to their mother, Niall cries the hardest. He had known their mother the best, and she’d been ripped away from him. And now she’s being forced to leave him again. They spend a long time hugging, and she whispers something to Niall that Liam can’t hear.

Liam gets a brief hug from her, and she whispers, “Don’t forget to have hope.”

“I won’t,” Liam says fiercely.

Niall turns away as their mother and grandmother are sent back to the Heavens. Liam watches though because he wants to spend as much time looking at his mother as possible. Even if it’s just for a few more seconds.

All the guests return home after that, and Liam and Niall head up to bed without another word. They’re too emotional to speak right now, and they probably won’t say anything about it for a while. At least, not until Louis and Harry get back from their honeymoon.

After all the excitement of the day, Liam’s not surprised to find that he can’t fall asleep. He tries reading his psych book, since that always makes him tired, but it doesn’t work. He feels something pulling at him, telling him to go outside and get some air.

He follows that force, because he’s never had any reason to doubt his intuition before. He lets it tug him down the street and into that same park where Zayn had saved his life. It seems like that had been years ago now, but it’s only been a few months.

He sits down on that same swing, and then suddenly the feeling is gone. But he doesn’t feel empty because it’s replaced by a different feeling. One that he hasn’t felt in what feels like forever.

“ _Leeyum_ ,” Zayn says from somewhere behind him.

Liam smiles to himself and starts to swing.


End file.
